Blooming Poppies
by FetusFluid69
Summary: [SEQUEL TO 'STAR VS THE ALLIED FORCES'] Marco gets himself into the royal family, and now he wants to be useful. The perfect job for him? General, for personal reasons and that he gets self defense training. But when an actual war comes to Mewni, Marco will have to balance his civil duties with his personal life. (Major Character Deaths) (Starco in previous story and this)
1. Ah Schiße, here we go again

Ch 1: Guess where Marco went? Not a big surprise really.

Marco had moved in a week ago, his house was on the outskirts of Mewni. He got out of his bed and put on his eyepatch. His breakfast was pork jerky. As was his every meal until he could finish raising the chickens. He put on a crudely made sweater and headed outside to tend to his chickens.

The outside was pleasant, as it was everyday. The chicken pen was his entire backyard, the coop an open space in the corner. He threw some grass seed and the chickens flocked to it, pecking at the seeds. As they fed, Marco could smell the smoke coming from the factories within the city.

After the chickens were fed, he went inside and took an _Information vial _and poured the green liquid onto his table. Gas was coming off of the liquid, and in that gas he could access what could be considered a Mewnian equivalent to internet. Just one of the many perks of Industrialized Mewni.

He spent many hours looking at the many "Funny moment compilations" when heard a knock on the door.

Marco opened the door to see the mailman, the car on the bottom of the hill.

The mailman handed Marco a newspaper, and left. Turns out the concept of mailboxes weren't a reality yet. Marco went to his table and read some of the news. Most of the same stuff, war preparations, tax deduction, rebels saying Mewni doesn't have real fascism, and coffee prices climbing particular story caught his eye.

_Parade will have Star Butterfly personally attending!_

This was his chance, he had tried to get into the palace so he could meet Star, but his efforts were in vain as the guards chased him off. He's decided to live a modest life until he knows they aren't after him anymore.

But THIS was a chance to meet Star outside the palace. He excitedly put on his old classic red jacket, a flare, and headed out.

Star was in the royal palace, being tended to by multiple maids. They were putting makeup on her, helping choose an outfit, and gossiping.

"Oh mah gah Star!" one of the maids said "there was this kid who demanded to see you! He was all crazy and even had an eyepatch! Defo cray cray"

"Eyepatch?" Star kept completely still, she didn't want any of the makeup to mess up "How old was he?"

"About your age, honey."

"Huh…" Star shunned the thought of Marco from her head. She knew that there was no way to meet him again. And hope would only impair her Queenly duties.

Still, a small part of her hoped.


	2. Let's just jump right in

Ch 2: Public Image.

Star had an image to upkeep, the previous Leader (Her mom) always made public appearances grand. Even if she was just leaving to take her horse on a walk, Moon held a small parade. This was Star's first festive public appearance.

It had to be grand, this was her debut parade. She had a green dress, and she was the center of attention on a platform held up by magic and four cars.

The parde rolled out, going from the palace to the factory district. There was live music, gifts being thrown out to the people, and a crowd cheering.

When Star saw the crowd, she felt better for herself. _All these people, cheering out for me. _And they really were cheering out, the sidewalk was packed, the noise of the crowd drowned out only by live music. Star finally felt good after the whole trip a week prior.

Star was sitting on a throne, waving to the people when she got something in her eye. It was a red light coming from the left crowd. She turned to look at who would do such a thing. To shine a light into the Leader's eye, and every other thing that involves hurting the leader, is a capital offense. Whoever did this would be executed, she could just give the order.

She definitely wasn't giving the order once she saw who it actually was. It was Marco, of course.

A heartbeat skipped, and she actually showed a little bit of emotion other than happiness to the people. She quickly regained her resolve and, looked at Marco. He was holding up a red flashing torch, and he was wearing his red jacket. The jacket was clean now. Quickly, Star summoned a piece of paper, wrote down some words, and sent it as a paper airplane towards Marco.

The crowd immediately jumped for it, toppling Marco and his torch. Star could only hope that he got the paper.

Marco Squeezed his way out of the crowd, careful not to break the piece of paper in his hand. It had a yellow tint to it, and shiny border designs. Once Marco reached an alley, rank with smoke and trash from the two factories either side of him, he unfolded the paper.

The paper may have been quality, but the handwriting was scrawled and hasty. Marco could barely read the nearly indecipherable mess.

_Meet me at the Mouse's Ear at closing time. They'll let you stay after closing as long as you keep ordering._

The Mouse's Ear was a restaurant. Marco had been there once when evading the mewnian guards' attempt to capture him. Marco made his way there. As he did, he bumped into a leader's guard. He was convinced that he would get captured, but the guards seemed rather helpful.

Marco turned the corner of the street when he bumped into a metal chest. He got knocked down onto his back.

"Oh shit i'm sorry." The guard said, as he looked down on Marco "oh shit, you're a kid. I shouldn't have swore."

"Ah, it's fine" Marco almost stood up when he realized he had bumped into a guard.

"Wait, aren't you the kid that tried to get into the palace?" The guard said with a grin. "Oh man, you're a legend in the ranks!"

"A what?" Marco said, a little of his fear being lifted off of his shoulders.

"Yeah! No one's tried that since… well since before I signed up. The Leader's high guard was embarrassed by how far you got!" The guard took Marco's hand and pulled him up. "High guard said that anyone who got that far might as well be let free and be a strong worker!"

"So, i'm free?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, you're home free."

With the obstacle of being pursued out of the way, Marco could finally put into motion his plan. But first he had to meet with Star.

The mouse's ear was mostly empty when Marco opened the door. Looking around the dirty floors, the unconscious man on the table, and the harlot flaunting herself in the corner, Marco knew he found the place. He was pretty sure the unconscious man was the same person he saw unconscious the last time he went here. The only saving grace was that this place was quite spacious. Other restaurants in the inner city were usually cramped.

Marco walked up to the counter and tapped twice, getting the attention of the server.

"What do you want?" The gray-bearded man said in a hoarse voice.

"A beer," Marco put two coins on the counter "and corn."

"Corns' illegal." The man grimaced "what kind of establishment do you think i'm running here, _shitskin?_"

"You literally have a prostitute in the corner." Marco pointed to her.

"Well, I don't serve _your kind._" the man let out with a cough.

"For fuc- fine," Marco took out another coin "will this pay for my… YOUR racism?"

The man took the coins "Sit in the corner, I don't want anyone coming in seeing you."

Marco obeyed. He sat in the bottom left corner. The table was against the wall with the door, his corn and beer was delivered. He was halfway through his food when another person walked in.

It was a fat man, Marco saw many vials and pouches on the man's belt. He was an alchemist for sure. The fat man bought a sandwich and sat in the table farthest from Marco.

The room was dead silent once the hooker left. The only sound coming from the man passed out on the table.

Finally, a hooded figure walked into the establishment. The hood was black and dirtied. It looked around before facing Marco. The face and nose were covered by a bandanna of sorts, but the eyes were only obstructed by a few stray hairs.

And by god, did Marco ever recognize those eyes.

Marco stood and waved as Star walked over.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Star whispered as she discreetly took off her mask.

"I'm here because of you." Marco lied "I couldn't leave you." He said as he caressed her cheek.

"You absolute idiot." Star said, half joking and half serious "you could've had everything, and yet you come to me-" Marco suddenly kissed her.

Star's eyes, open in shock, slowly closed. Marco pushed her away too soon, and so Star lurched forwards and kissed him again. Only when she deemed it fit, she pulled back.

"We… we shouldn't be in public." Star said, looking off to the side "do you know what would happen if we were found?"

"That's what the hood is for, right?" Marco brushed her hooded cloak "one of the times you were actually competent."

"Still, with a high enough level of magic education, a mage could identify us." Star pulled up her mask.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Marco said in a nonchalant voice.

"The worst that can happen?" Star looked Marco in the eye "it's forbidden that high ranking individuals have this kind of relationship with commoners, and you know people! They get offended by… anything that doesn't look like them."

"Yet you wanted seconds," Marco said with a smug look on his face "so, where are we gonna go?"

"Well, I'm already running late for a meeting in the palace, so i have to leave you here." Star said, disheartened.

"Hey, we can always meet again." Marco said "I have an Instant address on the 'cloud' do you?"

"Everyone knows the queen's cloud address." Star said, taking out a green vial from her pocket. She removed the cork and let come of the gas come out. The gas showed the words:

**ADDRESS: DEAR_LEADER_STAR**

"Set a special alert for address 'Yeetthatmeet420'" Marco whispered into the gas. The gas turned green and displayed the word 'confirmed'

"I need to go, or else the council will get suspicious." Star said hastily as she turned to the door. But Marco had a grip on her arm.

"Until we meet again, _mon amour._" Marco said.

Star had no idea what he meant in that ending part. Neither did Marco, he just remembered that it meant something about romance.


	3. Nibba mail

Ch 3: Family feud.

Mewni always claimed to be a fascist system since Moon had been in power, but in reality it was just masquerading as fascist. It really is just normal monarchism, a few terms and fancy clothes tossed in.

There were two main families in the hierarchy. The Butterflys, the current ruling family, and the Blossoms, a family loosely related to the Butterflys. Often associated with their mainly purple attire compared to the black/green of the Butterflys.

Ginger Blossom was an ambitious woman, every time she saw an opportunity she exploited it. Her ultimate goal was to establish the Blossoms as the ruling family, as they rightfully are.

Would fate have it, an opportunity for a massive bite of power came at her estate door.

"A man who wishes to discuss a business opportunity is at the door, madam." The maid addressed Ginger.

"Business, you say?" Ginger said in an intrigued voice "what kind of business?"

"He was rather vague about it, madam." the maid answered.

"I don't have anything better to do, send him in!" Ginger got up and went into her interview room.

She sat down on the desk, and waited for the opportunity to present itself.

As the door opened, Ginger could see the man in full form. Fat, wearing the most ridiculous of feathered hats, his belt heavy with an alchemy set.

"Ginger Blossom, I am Aldric Funkhagel, and I have only the most lucrative of deals. The best deals. The best deals in the history of deals, and believe me, you'll agree when you see i-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, just sit down."

"Well alright, madam." Aldric sat down "You sure nothing is… spying on us?"

Ginger raised an eyebrow "A lot of stuff that the leader wouldn't approve of happens in here. Things like, oh, plots against her."

A grin grew across Aldric's face "oh, you'll love this." He took out a green vial, and poured some onto the desk. The gas emitted showed a hooded figure and a brown skinned kid, they seemed to kiss.

"Well? It's just some kids kissing, are you a pedo or somethi-" Aldric took out a vial with purple liquid in it.

"This right here," Aldric tapped the vial "is a recognition vial. Labels the people in a gas-motion. Highly illegal outside of detective work." He poured some onto the table, mixing the two liquids.

The video looped, but now labels were on each person.

The boy was labeled: _Unknown commoner._

The hooded figure was labeled: _Star Butterfly._

Ginger gasped. Star, and a commoner?! This was juicy, juicy blackmail.

"3,000 coin" Aldric said.

"Deal."

Aldric set down six vials, three of which had the video, the rest of which had the labeling extension. Ginger gave him his coins.


	4. A day out

Ch 4: Managing a kingdom.

The hall was silent, everyone was present except the leader herself. On the eastern side was the actual royal family, the Butterflys. On the western side was the problem group. They had problems and needed high command to help.

Finally, Star walked in and took her seat on the north side.

"Well, now that everyone's here, I would like to address the pressing matter of actions against the state." A woman from the eastern side stood as she said this.

"Yes, yes, which group? The Fanatics? Are they at it again with their rituals?" Star spoke faster than usual.

"No, it's the Rootists." The Rootists believed that the Government didn't abide by the original works of Ideal fascism, and so they went against the state "Another one confessed to a plot to kill you, they didn't spit out more though."

"You know what? I'm sick and tired of these Roostists! Who are they, mere commoners, to believe they have any place in the sacred state of high command?! I want them censored in the vials!" Star suddenly shouted. "Wait, don't actually do that, i'm just…"

"Is something troubling you, Supreme leader?" The court physician stood up.

"It's just," Star sighed "I need time off, all this stress of becoming the Supreme leader… I'm putting my second in command in charge of this meeting."

"Glad to take your place when you rest up." Star's mom, Moon, stood up. "We were all a little stressed when you went missing a week ago."

"Thanks mom," Star left the meeting.

Star locked the door to her room, then collapsed on her bed. She groaned into her pillow. She turned onto her back, did a swoosh with her wand, and a green vial floated into her hand. She made sure no one was looking and then accessed the cloud.

**SPECIAL ALERT: ONE (1) NEW MESSAGES FROM YEETTHATMEAT420**

"Read message" Star whispered.

**MESSAGE: ARE WE A THING NOW?**

Star whispered into the gas, "We can't let anyone know. Send"

A few moments later, another message popped up.

**YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION**

Star hesitated, then whispered, "Yes, send."

**I'VE GOTTEN AN APARTMENT AND MOVED THERE. WANT TO MEET UP? **

An image of a map showing where the apartment was popped up on-screen.

"Yeah, sure. I'm going right now" Star grabbed her concealing cloak and headed out.

Chervil Blossom was a tall, confident man. He had come to the palace to stay for one night for the meeting. Chervil was the brother of Saffron Blossom, and Chervil was filling in for her spot on the royal court. He was walking to his quarters when he ran into Star.

Chervil turned the corner and almost fell over "Woah! How DARE you do that, lowly serva-" He stopped his ranting when Star revealed herself "Oh! Most apologies, your highness. I was so dimwitted to think you of a-"

"Ugh, I hate it when people do that fancy talk around me." Star put up her hood and walked past him.

"Hm," Chervil moved on, but he couldn't shake the discrepancy he noticed.

_Where were her guards? Shouldn't she still be in bed anyway?_ He thought to himself. _Well, it's not that she needs guards, all of Mewni is her bodyguard. No one would be crazy enough to attack her._

Marco stuffed all of his suspicious things under his bed. His blueprints, diagrams, chemistry set, and tools. His apartment was cramped, one room for a kitchen, living, and bed. The other room was a bathroom. He actually got finished hiding everything before Star arrived so Marco decided to read a book.

"Spread that aloe, got that flow, i'm here to see Marco!" Star suddenly came in without knocking. This startled Marco, and made him drop his book.

"By Christ, knock first!" Marco stood up and went to pick up his book, but then Star suddenly swiped it.

"Lets see…" Star created a magical barrier so that Marco couldn't get to her "The bibleh?"

"It's pronounced bible, and REMOVE THIS WALL!" Marco, leaning on the barrier, fell over once it disappeared.

"What's it about?" Star enthusiastically asked.

"It's… complicated." Marco wiped the cover of the book "you wouldn't like it."

"I'm willing to give everything a first chance, just give me the gist."

"Yeah, I bet." Marco whispered with a smirk "Alrighty, so basically God is this higher being, and he's trying to weed out the baddies so the goodies go to paradise with him."

"Sounds boring," Star sat down on the couch, "So… what are we gonna do today?"

"What?"

"Well," Star looked out the window, "where are we gonna go?"

"I… haven't thought that far" Marco said.

"Well, I have an idea." Star looked to Marco with a smile.

The men did the manual labor, while the women took on the jobs that were considered 'civilized.' This was how it went in Mewni, factories had the men mine the metal and coal, then the women inspected each blade produced. The royal houses had Queens, not kings (Although they were now called leader). The throne went from daughter to daughter. Everything else in between took the same rules.

Alpra hated this, why should he be lower than a female counterpart? His place in the factory was the blade refiner. He took the blades made unfit in the factory line and made them suitable. It was back breaking.

Alpra, Aplra's Father, and Aplra's Father's Father, had been masters in blacksmithing. This was, of course, blacksmithing in the old sense. Blacksmithing now was doing one small part then giving it to the next man in the factory line. What Aplra's father taught Alpra was the old way of Blacksmithing. Carefully working the material with your hammer, expertise in minimizing mistakes that a factory mold would never make. Bare body fighting against the red hot metal, hours spent making one blade.

Alpra's expertise made him the perfect candidate for refining the broken blades. He could work in metal that could not be worked in by the molds, he could sharpen the place a machine had missed, he could remake the blade entirely if the damage was too much.

But still, it was back breaking. An entire day was usually spent repairing only a few weapons. His working conditions made his skin blackened with soot, his hair sometimes burned from stray sparks from the furnace, his pinky finger gone from the regular brawls that went on in his part of the factory.

His pay couldn't even afford him two meals a day, almost all of it went to his apartment rent. So when the opportunity to make an easy 100 coins came his way, he gladly accepted.

His job was to spy on his neighbor. Follow him around and take pictures and videos with alchemy.

Alpra heard the neighbor's door open up, and so Alpra followed.

His neighbor was of a different species. He was astonishingly similar to Mewmans, except for the fact that he had brown skin. Alpra never knew why almost everyone hated differing species. He remembered the days before Moon's reign, where the only discrimination was at the very top of royalty. 14 year old daughter abdication tradition.

He followed his neighbor, who also had with him a hooded companion. They both looked like kids.

He followed them, making sure his vial could record them. He hid in the crowd of the ever-booming city. He hid in plain sight at the theater, where he had diverted most of his attention to the play on stage rather than his target. He kept his face hidden in a book he couldn't actually read because he was illiterate, when they wandered into a library.

Aplra actually got close enough to hear their whispers in the library.

"It's booooooring here. I want to go somewhere elsssse" A female voice from the hooded figure.

"Someone's been here before me…" The kid was flipping through a book. Alpra tried to copy the letters of the title onto the paper, not that he knew what they meant.

'_Dustrialization' _Alpra copied down.

"They took the liberty to leave out medicine, military strategy, gunpowder…"

"Can we just go on?" The hooded figure pleaded.

"Alright," The book was put back on the shelf.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, just some garden walks, games, and beer tasting. But when they finally got back, Alpra understood why he was hired.

It was dark out, the apartment building reeked of kerosene. Alpra pretended to fumble his keys when he was actually just recording them.

"Hey, thanks for today, it was fun!" The hooded girl said.

"Yeah, but I just wish I could see your happy face." Alpra had interpreted that the boy's name was Marco.

"Well," The girl pulled Marco close and gave him a kiss through the face covering "you can see it now." The mask was pulled off to reveal… The leader herself. Alpra had caught it all on camera.

"Bingo," Alpra said, as he finally put the key in the lock.

"Wait, how long have you been standing there?" Star looked on with a frightened stare.

Alpra gave her a dirty look and said, "Haven't seen you before, you new around these parts?"

Star, relieved, gave Marco one last kiss and left for the palace.


	5. Marco gets fucking accused of rape

**AN: btw Marco lost his eye in Star vs the Allied Forces.**

Ch 5: CPR

"Where have you been?" Star, walking in the quiet halls of the palace, froze at the sound of a voice.

"Uhhh nowhere." Star said without turning around. She recognized that voice, Chervil Blossom.

"Really?" Chervil turned her around "because I couldn't find you in your bed room, where were you?"

"I… Uh… I prefer having fun as a way to take the stress off, not sitting in my room." Star said in a shaking voice.

"Hm," Chervil let her go "I guess that makes sense."

When Chervil was out of sight, Star hurried to her room. She crashed onto her bed, both happy and worried for the future.

Star walked into Marco's apartment without knocking, she wished she did because what she saw was… well it was something to say the least.

The floor was covered with newspapers, the walls had diagrams pinned up on them. There were multiple cups, each had a brown tint in them. Marco was pacing, drinking from a mug. Eyes bloodshot and tired. There were two books on the table, _Plants of Mewni _and _Modern medicine_.

"Marco?" Star had her cloak, as always.

"Star!" Marco spilled some of his drink on his clothes, which was the same clothes he had three days ago.

"Marco, it's been three days since I last saw you, what are you doing?" Star stepped in a not so dry spot in the newspaper floor.

Marco walked over to what seemed like a modified alchemy set, and took out a small pouch with a cap on it. He showed it to Star.

"Penicillin," he said in a twitchy voice "I… people won't die from plagues."

"Alriiight." Star said, eyeing the moldy bread on the table. "I think you need some air. By the way, what are you drinking?"

"That bean that you only think is good for smelling?" Marco pointed to some brown beans "makes coffee. Can keep you up for at least eleven days"

"Yeah, you definitely need some air."

It was midday, Marco had a bottle of coffee with him for the entire trip. Star wanted to go to another garden, but then Marco saw a restaurant.

"I don't think I've eaten anything other than coffee beans for three days." Marco said as they walked in. It was booming with laughter and talk.

"What'll you have?" Marco had noticed that almost everyone had blonde hair and blue eyes.

"I'll just have a water," Star altered her own voice.

"Two beers, and a meat pie." Marco ordered.

"Two? You're fourteen, I don't think-"

"Star, let me give you some wisdom." Marco said "The one thing that all species love, tell me, what is it?"

"Uhh se-"

"That's right! They love their food and drink! Whether it be marriage, birthdays, hell, even funerals, there is always, ALWAYS food and drink! As a Queen, you probably need to do some diplomacy, yes? What better way to improve relations than a night out drinking?" The food had arrived at this point.

"Here's ya grub, don't choke on it."

"I… I'll try." Star took the beer mug and took the tiniest of sips "Oh, I feel… a little…" She slumped down onto the ground, unconscious.

"Star?" Marco came on the ground with her, He held his ear up to her mouth and felt no breathing "she's been poisoned! I think..."

A crowd as gathering around Marco now, as he panicked. Then he remembered CPR. He didn't know if CPR worked on poison, but he'll be damned if he didn't try.

Marco got on his knees, made the sign of the cross, and started pumping Star's chest.

"Our. Father. In. Heaven. Ha. Llowed. be. your. name. Your. King. Dom. Come. Your. Will. Be. Done. On. Earth. As. It. Is. In. Heaven." Marco pulled Star's mask off, and blew two breaths in.

"Give. Us. This. Day. Our. Daily. Bread. And. Forgive. Us. Our. Debts. As. We. Also. Have. Forgiven. Our. Debtors." Some were taking videos as he blew more air into Star

"And. Lead. Us. Not. In. To. Temptation. For. Yours. Is. The. King. Dom. And. The power. And. The glory." Marco blew another breath, and Star opened her eyes. Marco got off of her.

As Star sputtered, Marco said "Forever, Amen."

The prison was carved out of the side of a mountain, the smell of wet rock permeated through the halls. Marco was completely wrapped in a magical rope, being carried to his processing cell.

Marco tried his best to wriggle out of the guard's grasp, but it was as if he was paralyzed. The guards threw Marco through an open door and immediately the ropes vanished. Marco stood up and tried to launch himself through the open door, but a magical barrier stopped him.

"You ain't getting through that. That door has been reenforced by Moon herself." A boy the same age as Marco came from the corner, blonde hair blue eyes of course.

"Ah, you know this place well, eh?" Marco, still twitching from his coffee, did a good job of hiding his surprise.

"First time here, just know how to identify magic."

"So, what're ya in for?" Marco avoided sitting down in the surely germ filled floor.

"I… I was robbed and…" Marco noticed the blood splatter on the kid's clothes. He noticed the kid was starting to tear up, so Marco changed the subject.

"I raped the leader, apparently."

"You WHAT?!" The kid sucked up his sadness. "Y- You…"

"I can explain, alright?" Marco was a little embarrassed.

"Alright, explain!" The kid had a judging face.

"Alright, so, we- SHE was at this restaurant." Marco decided to cut any relationship with Star and him when telling the story. "And, she ordered a drink. But, that drink was poisoned. Now-"

"I didn't mean explain it like that!" The kid shouted "I mean, like, tell me _why _you did it."

Marco sighed "So, she slumps over, pretty much dead. No breathing, probably no heartbeat."

"I… I think i'm gonna be sick, you fucking necrophi-"

"JUST LET ME FINISH!" Marco shouted with so much force that his eyepatch moved a bit. "So I come from another dimension. This dimension has this thing called CPR. Basically jump starts any non-breathing body. The pumps, or as the fake news media calls it, 'inappropriate touching of the breasts' Are supposed to get the heart beating again. The 'unconscious kissing' was me blowing air into her lungs."

"I- that- that actually makes sense. Well, more sense than some kid just jumping on opportunity." The kid swallowed some imaginary vomit and stood up "This does still mean the leader goes out secretly, without grandeur."

"Ah, can you blame her? Tough couple of days, she's actually on vacation with Moon filling in." Marco said, without thinking.

"N- name's Tarragon, Tarr for short." As Tarr composed himself Marco contemplated why that name sounded familiar "How do you know about that? CPR?"

"Comes from another dimension, high command banned any information coming from anywhere other than here. Part of the 'independence campaign' I got clearance though, Star gave it to me when-"

"How'd you get that?" Tarr suddenly pinned Marco to the wall. Shiv covered in dried blood up to his neck.

Marco and Tarr paused, Marco could feel Tarr's breaths. Then he realized that Tarr's breaths were going into his mouth a bit, and that's pretty gay ngl.

"Woah now, let's back it up a bit kiddo."

"Or what?" Tarr pressed the knife on Marco's neck just before Marco kicked his leg, unbalancing him.

Before Tarr could recover, Marco striked the region below his ear. Tarr's vision blurred a bit, then turned to darkness as he fell onto the ground.

"My lessons have actually seen some use." Marco whispered as he sat down. Then, he heard a voice.

_Marco…_

"Wha?" Marco called into the air just as he was going to sleep, but no one answered. Marco went back to trying to sleep.

_Marco..._

A blinding flash of white made Marco snap from partial sleep. He looked up and saw what appeared to be a throne room. At the throne, was Marco saw himself.

King Marco looked to regular Marco and said, "One day, this will be your reality." A white dove then came from a light filled window carrying a letter. The letter was dropped in front of Marco.

The paper read: _You have been blessed by restlessness for 8 days. Teach the people._

And so, Marco awoke from his vision.

In doing so, he had seen that he hadn't slept at all. His vision seemed to decay around him, certain aspects like the throne and window were replaced by the stone walls of prison.

When he regained full composure he saw a man at the magically sealed door.

"I'm bailing both of you," He said "Name's Alpra."

Marco took a moment to look at Aplra. Then he turned to Tarr and grabbed him by the legs. Dragging Tarr out, Marco noticed that the door was open. Marco set down Tarr and asked Alpra "Who are yo-" before having a sack thrown over Marco's head.


	6. Star gets high

Ch 6: Star trips balls.

"Now, You're probably wondering where you are or who I am, but-"

"I'm in the sewers underneath the sword factory. Your name is Ginger Blossom, the most prestigious of the Blossom family. You are wearing red and have a ketchup stain on it but no one notices since it blends into the red." Marco still had a sack over his head, he was tied to a chair. "You are insecure about your appearance, and if you're that worried maybe you should lose some fucking weight you fa-."

The sack was lifted from Marco's head just as a light was shined in right in his eyes. "How do you know so much?" Ginger held the lamp close to Marco's eyes, and Marco neither faltered or blinked.

"I have some sort of power after I got thrown in prison, I am aware of all aspects of my surroundings and all times." Marco had a calm and collected voice, far better that the jittery voice when he was drinking coffee. "You consider this lamp torture when it has no effect other than being mildly annoying for other people. It has no effect on me, though. Because i'm pretty sure one half of my brain is asleep while the other is awake. Like a shark going to sleep."

"Y- this lamp doesn't bother you?" Ginger turned the lamp off "How did you reverse the effects of magical poison on Star?"

"It went it's course, no doubt. She was dead and I simply revived her without magic. Why did you poison her?"

"You don't need to know that," Ginger decided to get to the meat of the discussion "What you do need to is that I know what you and Star have been up to."

"Yeah Yeah, you're gonna blackmail me and stuff. You have all the evidence you need too. Mostly recordings." Marco had a smug look on his face "Whole awareness thing, remember? Best part is that I know all the potential danger around me."

"Well, huh." Ginger had a giant speech up her sleeves but it was put to waste "You're awareness is probably a side effect of the magical poison. A little bit was transferred into your mouth during the whole… well you know what I mean."

"Of course I do. Anything in this room I know everything about."

"And I guess you know about Star, who's just behind the door." Ginger pointed to a door.

"Wait, wha-" The door opened, and sure enough Star was stuffed into a closet, tied up in the same magical ropes Marco had been in.

"THOU SHALT NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS, FOUL PASTRY!" Star shouted, squirming on the ground.

"The effects weren't completely reversed. Instead of her brain shutting off from information overload-"

"THY KINGDOM SHALL FALL UNDERNEATH THE MIGHT OF RAINBOWS!" Star squirmed harder.

"-she actually was able to process the information. She now sees in what can only be described as the tenth physical dimension."

"RUNII IMPERII! DEUS VULT! GOTT MIT UNS! FOR KING AND COUNTRY!"

"Or, she's tripping balls. Did you really just try and poison someone with what is basically shrooms?" Marco tried to get a better look at Star.

"Magical psychoactive actually. Get your alchemy ri-"

"Oh shit, just realized your plan." Marco had a glassy look "I know that you desperately want to do your speech. So go ahead."

"Oh, well, that's awfully nice considering I kidnapped you." Ginger cleared her throat and walked over to Star "Star, you know that party that happens only once in every 667 years?"

"Love is dead, we killed it." Star stopped squirming.

"Uhm…"

"One day, you will be forgotten. It is inevitable. You die in the physical realm, but your legacy powers on. Although, it is the nature of time that everything fades. Your legacy will fade. Then your legacy will be nothing."

"That… ok… you know how you're head over heels in love with this guy?" Ginger pointed to Marco.

"I wouldn't call it love, but I am somehow experiencing 12 different realities in which he's having sex with me."

"Well- Anyway- Ok, woo." Ginger took a deep breath and said, "Point is, you go to that blood moon thing, fall in love with someone from the Blossom family, dump this nerd, have a daughter and give her the Blossom name, give her the throne, and yeah that's pretty much it."

Star looked Ginger in the eye and said, "I cannot form a single coherent thought right now, but instincts are still in control somewhat Fri- fro- flop you."

"Well, I guess I'll just release the information that you and a commoner are dating. You'll be ridiculed!"

"Take me instead." Marco said.

Ginger turned to Marco and said, "Now why would I want to take you?"

"I'm a genius. People will flock to me. People will be cured by my medicine. The blood moon thing is only 10 days away, give me five days and I'll become more valuable to you than the throne."

Ginger took a moment to process this and said "Eh, go for it. Star needs 5 days to calm down anyway. If you become like a god or something I'll reconsider."

Marco had a grin on his face "No man is a god, there are only prophets who spread his message."

**AN: Gonna postpone this for a while because I need to watch the actual show. If you've ever clicked on my profile you know why. Don't worry though, i'll be doing this other series on here. Or maybe do worry, since i'm so bad at this whole writing thing.**


	7. Marco misses his parents

Ch 7: Marco becomes a preacher.

**AN: Mewni is established communications with the Third Reich btw. Read my previous Fanfic if you want to know how. Also, I feel like this fanfic is WAY to far from the actual show. I feel like it's too original. Might leave this all together. Leave a review or a pm if you want me to continue. **

To be honest, Star didn't remember what had happened the last five days. Of course she knew the major things, she was blackmailed into going to the Blood-Moon-party thing, and that the frosted bread imperium had finally collapsed (Glory to the almighty dairy), but she didn't know where she got the information that she was black mailed. She sort of just knew.

When she came to her senses, she was in her bed. She sat up and immediately called for her mom.

"Star? What is it dear?" Moon seemed overly sympathetic. Star was sitting up in her bed.

"It's… I want to go to that party, you know that party? That party that only happens in 667 years?"

"Oh, yeah you can go. It's nice of you to actually ask for once, Star."

Star chuckled "Yeah, and also… how's the talks going in Germany?" After the whole debacle Star went through, Star sent an ambassador to introduce Mewni to Germany.

"Oh, wonderfully." Moon lied. The talks weren't going particularly bad, it's just that the world the Germans were in had for some reason no access to dimensional scissors system. Communications between the ambassador and the state were slow.

"That's good." Star had a sort of tired voice, she looked down gloomily.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Moon sat next to Star.

"No…" Star knew what she meant, and she didn't really have the time to construct an elaborate lie. "It's not as bad as people make it out to be."

"Oh, well... I'll leave you to it." Moon stood up.

"Wait, I have a question." Star grabbed her mom's arm. "Why's it forbidden for royalty to be with a commoner?"

"Well, it's not really illegal. It's just that… you lose prestige. And you break tradition. You can be in a relationship with someone famous, though. That reminds me..." Moon sat back down. "There's something I need to tell you. Have you ever noticed that literally _everyone_ had blue eyes and blonde hair? There's a reason"

Marco wasn't having such a foreshadowing day as Star. Well, the entire week was filled with more commotion than Star's. And Star was literally in charge of the entire dimension.

"AND SO, BLINDED AND BELITTLED, SAMSON PRAYED TO GOD! HE SAID 'FORGIVE ME LORD, BUT PLEASE GIVE ME STRENGTH ONCE MORE' AND SO GOD MADE IT SO! AND SAMSON USED HIS STRENGTH TO BREAK FREE AND DESTROY THE ENTIRE BUILDING, KILLING HIM AND EVERYONE IN IT!" Marco had not slept for 11 days straight, he hadn't drank any coffee or anything. Yet it felt like he was about to collapse. He still somehow marched on. He went from street to street, preaching the word of god.

Marco had become a viral sensation. So much so that Ginger Blossom visited Marco. She came to a rented building that served as a church. She walked in and knocked on the door that said "office"

"It's unlocked." Moon barely heard Marco. She came in.

Inside, there was a pile of money on a desk. In front of it was a label that had the words _donations _on it. A trash can was halfway filled with tissues and Marco sat behind the desk, eyes bloodshot and watery.

"You… you really have done it have you? You've gained so much traction that-"

"Shh. you hear that?" Marco said. A moment of silence was not interrupted.

"Well, no I-"

"Exactly. Nothing. No crowds, no unpredictability. Just… standard. Perfect." Marco wiped a few tears of his face. He was barely keeping it in. "Have I told you, of the old me?"

"I don't think I need t-"

"Marco Diaz, 14 years old. Echo creek was as normal it got. I was the safe kid, brought a helmet to the shower once. I craved action, yet I was too… I don't know. I just wanted action, danger, but I avoided it." A few tears made their way out.

"Should I leave or-"

"God, I'm remembering them. Their voices, their faces, absolutely horrible." Marco slammed his fist onto the desk. "I JUST WANT TO HIT RESET! ALL OTHER SOLUTIONS ARE FAKE!" Marco stood up "ANYTHING ELSE WOULDN'T BE TRUE, WOULDN'T BE MY AC-" Marco halted himself. He slumped down into his chair and started to profusely sob.

"I'm just here to say… you're safe from blackmail. You've gained enough traction that even if I were to release the files, you'd be famous enough that people wouldn't care" Ginger slowly backed out of the room. She closed the door, but she could hear the faint cries of Marco.

After about two hours, Star walked in. Marco was motionless on the desk, his head on the pile of money.

"Mar-" Star barely got a sound out.

"I'm not sleeping, I haven't slept for 11 days." Marco looked up at Star "Have you ever pulled 11 straight all-nighters?"

"Well, no. But…" Star held up dimensional scissors. "It looks like you're really down, and I have something special!" As Star opened the portal, Marco got up next to her.

"This dimension, it cheers everyone up!" Star said enthusiastically. "One of my favorite places actually."

"I don't think I want to, like, go out right now." Marco said backing away from the portal.

"Come on!" Star took Marco's hand "I hate it when you're like this, so sad and mopey. Besides, beats wallowing in your own shame."

"I don't think I have a say in the matter." Marco chuckled. "You know, there's this one thing I always wanted to do."

"Well, if you go into the portal then you can do it!"

"If you say so." Marco looked at the blueish-swirling portal. "You really think it's safe to just blindly walk in?"

"Just do it, what's the worst that can happen? You lose another eye? Or you become more of a buzzkill?"

"Yeah, a buzzkill…" An awkward moment of silence passed. "Well, as they say," Marco took a few steps back, then ran and jumped into the portal "YEET!"

When Marco landed, it seemed that he was in a waiting room of some sort. A few magazines next to some chairs, and a screen on the wall. Marco's vision blurred even more than normal as he regained his balance.

"Marco!" Marco was startled and fell. "What're you doing on the floor? This isn't the best part!" Star helped him up.

"Wh- where am I? Is this the place you were talking about? Sorta bland." Marco took in his surroundings. A yellow tinted wallpaper covered the walls. Harsh white light and a mechanical whir of some sort.

"I left this place like this," Star walked up to the screen on the wall and started to push some buttons. "Bland and boring, so I can build up some fun!" The screen displayed a keyboard. "Lets go to… I know!" Star pushed some of the letters, and pushed the green button on the screen.

"What-" Marco's question of what the screen was doing was quickly answered when he blinked, and suddenly he was on a yacht.

"Nice place, right?" Star used her wand to set off some mediocre fireworks. "hmm, maybe those would've been better if it was dark."

"Wh- where am I?" Marco looked around. It was mid-day, and there was only water around them, no land to be seen. The sun was bright, so it would've lit up any nearby land masses.

"You're on royalties resort's finest!" Star slapped the railings of some stairs that lead to the upper deck. "This bad boy can fit so much spaghetti on it." Star sighed and stared blankly into the horizon "So much spaghetti…"

"Why are we- _how _are we here?"

"Oh, you probably don't know about royalties resort! It's basically just an entire dimension where, if you type in anything on the screen, it becomes a reality! In fact, if I snap my fingers, I can make stuff appear!"

"Really?" Marco looked out into the sea "So, what're we supposed to do out here?"

"My mom usually just rents this place out to rich people who aren't royalty. But we can just chill here." Star snapped her fingers and threw herself backwards. When she should've fallen to the ground, a beach chair and a table by her. On that table was a fancy looking drink.

"Hmm," Marco snapped his own fingers and let himself fall. He sat on nothing but hardwood with a loud thud.

Star laughed "I haven't given you any powers yet!" she snapped her fingers, and a beach chair appeared next to Marco.

As Marco moaned in confusion and exhaustion, he pulled the chair next to Star. He laid down, feeling the ocean rocking, feeling the ocean sun beat down on him. It seemed familiar.

"I almost forgot!" Star snapped her fingers, and they were both in beach gear. Marco was too busy reliving memories to be embarrassed. "Now, you get some rest and relaxation!" Star snapped her fingers and their bodies instantly got lathered with sunscreen some shades appeared on Marco's face. Marco didn't react, he wasn't asleep but he had a thousand mile stare. Not that Star would see it, she was reading a magazine.

A few minutes passed, and Star heard Marco go to the yacht's inner deck.

"Marco?" Star snapped her fingers and both of them got into their normal clothes. She went into the inner deck and found Marco sitting there, head down in a fetal position. He was in a cold sweat.

"This is worse." He whispered "This is even worse."

"What is?" Star said cautiously.

"Going inside is. I went here to shake the feeling, but it's worse"

"What's the feeling?" Star sat next to him.

"It's just that, remember how I was captured on a boat? I was on a different boat before, and this guy named-" Strangely, Marco didn't want to say his name, but he did it anyway "this guy named Edward. I was- I was right next to him, and he- he-"

"Well? Don't leave me hanging!"

"He's not important. Not anymore" Marco rubbed his eye "I just want to sleep. Can you just, get us to land?"

"Oh come on!" Star pulled out a device that looked like a tablet. "You'll have to explain later, alright?" Star pushed some buttons, and they were in a grassy field. Solid ground below them. Star had a grumpy look on her face.

Marco looked directly at the sun "Make it night, I have a surprise for you." Suddenly, it was night. Stars lit up the sky. Star stood next to him, and looked up at the sky as he was.

"What's the surprise?" Star asked.

Marco started to sing "_Twinkle, twinkle, little Star._" Marco looked at Star, eyes locking. "_How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle little Star, how I wonder what you are._" Marco ran his fingers through her hair "You really are a diamond, always glittering."

"Oh. uhh…" Star didn't know how to respond " how long did it take you to write that song?" She smiled as she leaned closer. A tenacious moment passed. Then, without hesitation, kissed.

Marco pulled back "What's wrong?" Star asked.

"I'm… I'm remembering them." Marco said, with a joyous smile "remembering the good times. And anticipating times to come."


	8. Where'd they learn Latin? Also English?

Ch 8: First impressions for you.

"Saint Frisco! Saint Frisco!" The assistant called from the other side of the door.

Saint Frisco woke up from his nap and slowly approached the door. He opened it.

"What is it child? Has Jezebel done it again?" Frisco quietly said.

"No No! Much worse, Frisco!" The assistant was jittery, jumping up and down while sweating "The others, the ones we've brought into our plans, they've attacked Star without consulting us! They poisoned her, but she lived!"

"Hm, so she at least knows someone's after her." Frisco thought out loud "This… does throw a wrench into our assistance with '_All Around_'" He gently pushed the assistant away "Don't worry, I'll handle it. Now run along and play in the mud. Or whatever kids do." Frisco then secluded himself into his room.

Frisco set up a communication with the '_All Around'_ He drew a circle.  
Half of it made of flowers, the other half made of various animals's viscera. Three gifts to the Around. A mixture of pungent spices and alcohol, a tied up goose who's eyes have been poked out so that it can gorge next to a basin of wine, and a small vial of Frisco's own blood.

"_Est contumax obsistat, id est, non consistit ut homo."_ (It is unyielding, it is impending, it stops for no man.) Frisco held up a burning stick "_Volo ad colloquium illud nequit vis, et illud beneficium quaerere._" (I wish to to commune with it's unstoppable force, and to ask it a favor) The goose wiggled and then ceased.

"_Propter hoc gratiam, ut det illud donum. Pulchritudo in nasum, ebrietate bus compensari._" (For this favor, it grant it a gift. Beauty of the nose, balanced by drunken stupor) He held the stick to the spices, and the spices lit on fire. "_Next ego dabo ei non vita. Vitam qui poterit per alium consumi. Ad illud sanctum continue exolvuntur._" (Next, I give to it a life. A life which will be consumed by another. To continue it's holy cycle.) Frisco held the goose's head down below the liquid of the basin. The goose struggled, but it eventually ceased. Frisco set the goose aside to be cooked later.

"_Postremo me ipsum dabo. Tibi dabo eam, ut suus 'foras mittetur in sanctis exolvuntur._" (Finally, I give it my own body. I give it, to be thrown back into it's holy cycle.) Frisco opened the vial of his own blood, and threw it at plant in the corner.

"_Tu tamen nequit, non in disciplinatis utimini. A revision in unum ut vestra beatitudo millia, imo decies annis. Civilisque formarum oriri solum cadunt in gloria tua. Ceterum eam una fiunt vestra metam. Dolores inferni circumdederunt me auxilium. In omni populo huic terram trituratio quod purgatura est rapax, omne monstrum est terra. Solum modo usque ad terram usque ad recuperandam erit usque ad Mewni adducere. Scio Marcus pueri, et fuit princeps stella simul. Habeo consilium. Omnis ex vobis peto hoc est: Volo tuum, qui est in eius veluti illa perit._" (Though you are unstoppable, you are inaccurate. A single revision into your holiness may take thousands, nay, millions of years. Civilizations rise only to fall to your glory. We followers are made to forward your goal. I call upon you for assistance. The people of this land has purged every predator, every monster from this land. The only way for even land far away to recover will be to bring Mewni down. I know that the child Marco, and the princess Star have been together. I have a plan. All I ask of you is this: I want thy in power to be in agony as the other perishes.)


	9. Marco is interrogated again

Ch 9: First impressions for Marco

"Alright, I'll publish this for you," the woman behind the counter slapped the cover of the bible "if I get an autographed copy."

"Autographed copy? Oh you mean I sign it, of course. Yeah. In fact…" Marco took a pencil from the cup and opened the bible to a blank page near the beginning. He wrote '_Given to:_' on the top and '_By:_' At the bottom.

"I'll come here by the end of this week." Marco turned to walk to the locked door. On the other side, a crowd vied for Marco's attention. Perhaps being a religious leader wasn't all that quiet. Marco took a deep breath, and opened the door.

"Marco! Where did you get inspiration for your tea-" the first question

"Marco! Where are these places such as je-" Another

"Marco! Are the rumours true that you were the one tha-" And another

"Marco! Why did you-"

"Where were you-"

"What's your opinion on-"

"What do you think of people hating non mewnia-"

"The mines a-"

"I make a mean ass stromboli wa-"

Eventually, it all became background noise. But it was still noise. At least Marco got some sleep, he could finally think of a way to get out of the crowd. He threw his smoke bomb at the ground. His vision was clouded by the smoke, as was everyone else's vision around him. Dimensional scissor in hand, he cut a portal open and blindly stepped in. No one followed.

He stepped into a white void. Endless in all directions. No real solid ground. He wasn't floating, but he wasn't bound by gravity either. Marco opened another portal. This led back into Mewni, but in a secluded area. No crowds.

It was an alley. Smoke stung at his eyes. The smell of trash stung his nose. The chug of machines so eternal. An alley of the industrial district. Marco dug into his pocket and took out a small piece of jewelry. Star had given it to him and told him to hold on to it. She said there would be a special surprise for him if he held on to it. Marco studied it.

It was a diamond on a beaded string. The diamond held many faces, each glittering as light reflected off of it. Marco squinted, and found out that by looking at it in certain angles a story appeared within the diamond. Depictions of queens and princesses, leading a grand army towards a horde of monsters. Real monsters, like spiders and frogmen. In one picture, it showed monsters like spiders, bats, and giant rats, being pushed into a cave. In another, It showed monsters like frogmen, masses of plant matter, and a centaur being pushed into a portal. The monsters being pushed into the portal held weapons, while the ones being pushed into the caves did not. The portal monsters had looks of either fear or determination. The cave monsters had pure animal instinct.

As Marco pondered the jewel, he failed to notice two men come from in front of him and behind him. One held a pipe that he held up to his nose. The other held a sack.

"Oh not again," was all Marco could say before a dart flew out of the pipe and struck Marco, making him lose consciousness.

The next thing he felt was a shaking sensation.

"MARCOMARCOMARCO! GUESSWHATGUESSWHATGUE-" Star shook Marco violently. Marco has tied up, in a chair. His mouth was dry, and every fiber of his being felt heavy.

"I can't tell if this is gonna be a great dream or a we-" Marco's weak excuses for talking was cut short by the door violently swinging open.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT- OH LOOKS LIKE THE PRISONER IS CONSCIOUS!" An old man in all black pointed a knife in Marco's direction. "Now, we can finally start!" He turned to Star and whispered something. Then he grabbed Star by the arm and held the dull end of the knife to her neck.

"AH! Oh my goodness! This foul evildoer has taken me! Ah!" Star shouted.

"HAHA! Yes I am a very bad evildoer, and if you don't tell me where the money is, the queen gets it ya see?"

"Um, what?" Marco stared confused.

"Must I break it down for you, hostage?" The 'Evildoer' said "I have taken ye and Star a prisoner! Ye must tell me where the riches are, or Star the Princess, dies by my hand!" He let out a fake evil laugh. "Ingenious, is it not?"

"Oh please, villain! Please let me and Marco go! I beg of you!" Star cried out.

"Um, ok…" Marco decided to just go with it "Halt, ye foul criminal! Have your way with me, but I say! If you injure Princess Star and don't let her go, ruler of Mewni and her other realms, then verily I shall speak no word of my gold!"

"Uh," Evildoer looked confused. He whispered to Star "this has never happened before, he got a passing score. Do I keep going?"

Star was shocked by Marco's immediate fierce fighting stance "Yeah yeah go along"

"I HATH TAKEN YOUR OFFER AND HAVE DECIDED TO ACCEPT IT!" The Evildoer gently let go of Star "SPEAK!"

"First, Star must escape!" Marco shook the chair.

"Ok, good sir! Wait I mean, FOUL CRETIN!" The wrinkled uncouth criminal motioned Star to leave, and she walked out of the room. But she left a crack of the door open for her to see inside.

"NOW! SPEAK OF YOUR GOLD!"

Marco hesitated, then let out a giggle "Doth thou know the muffin man?"

"The muffin man?"

"DO YOU NOT HAVE EARS? YES THE MUFFIN MAN!"

"What the hell is a muffin man?" The unmannered yet professional kidnapper and Marco stood puzzled.

"A MAN WHO MAKES MUFFINS!" Marco screamed

"Ah yes, how could I forget?" The man doing a disservice to the community decided to go get on with the whole thing faster, so he didn't question what a muffin is. ""So what does the muffin man have to do wi-"

"The muffin man whom resides on Drury lane?" Marco said.

"Wha-"

"THE MOUTH TALKS, THE EYES SEE, BUT THE BRAIN IS LONG GONE!" Marco shook his chair

"I think you're insane." The tarnishment of the Mewnian race said.

"A WOMAN IS MARRIED TO THE MUFFIN MAN! YES, SHE HOLDS THE RICHES!"

"Uh, YE TRICKSTER! Thou hast no intention of giving up the riches!" The antagonist pulled a flashlight out of his pocket "Now thou shalt receive the worst of punishments! A tourture technique only used by monsters of the bygone-era!"

"Wait flashlights exis-" Marco had a flashlight held up to his face "AH! That's… really annoying!"

"Your resolve shall collapse sometime! I can see in in your expression! You say it is annoying, but you lie! Tis' a technique used by monsters whom don't fancy gore!" adversary let out a fake cackle.

"Um, NAY! NAY! I CAN'T NAUGHT TAKE ANYMORE! But… but I SHAN'T collapse to your nefarity!" Marco faked a struggle in his chair. "Release me from this debacle, I plead!"

The Evildoer broke out laughing. "HAHA! We really got you, didn't we?" He dropped the flashlight. "We really really did!" He added with a joking tone.

"Wha- I'm confused."

"Kid, you got the highest starting score I ever did see." the not-so Evildoer started to untie him "this was a test, you know? To see if you could handle getting kidnapped."

"So this was fake? This was all an act?" Marco pretended to act surprised. Once he got free from his restraints, he stood up and took a few steps away from the old man. Unfortunately, he walked with his back towards the door. Star burst in, hitting Marco's back.

"OHMYGOSHMARCOYOUWERESO-" She hugged Marco from the back "-BRAVEANDSTUFFANDYOUACTUALLYPASSEDTHATNEVERHAPPENEDBEFOREYOU'REBASICALLY-"

"I passed?"

"Yep!" The old man said, "You did all of the required things, and only missed one point. You made sure Star escaped unharmed, and you didn't give any information! Only thing, you didn't actually escape." As he said thins, Star let go of Marco.

"This reminds me, you have that gift I gave you?" She said.

"Let me check," Marco dug around in his pockets "Aha!" He took out the necklace. "Here it is. By the way, what's the whole deal with the design inside?"

"You'll find out." Star took the jewelry "the more important thing, I pranked you!"

"Huh?"

"This gift," Star rubbed the jewelry "it has magic in it! If you wouldn't have carried it around, we wouldn't have found you in that alley! Neat, huh?"

"Well," The old man put his hand on Marco's shoulder rudely interrupting Marco's conversation. "I guess I should introduce myself. I'll be your royal tutor, I'll tell you the ins and outs of all you may need to know. From escaping from a kidnapper, to holiday traditions."

Marco turned to him. "You have a name?"

"Yes," he said, "I usually go by my last name, Frisco. Royal tutor and official adviser. Specializing in the preservation of all things nature."


	10. Marco explains his sadness

Ch 10: In Flanders fields, the poppies blow

"Marco, why're you mopey all the time?" Star asked. She was sitting on a rock, overlooking the coastline. Star didn't like all the peace and quiet, but it was Marco's turn to try out Royale Resort. He insisted on bringing a backpack from Mewni into the resort.

Marco took a deep breath, soaking in the coastal air.

"It's fake, this coast is." Marco sat down next to Star.

"See? Like that!" Star said "'Everything's fake, this isn't real' and all that!" Star poorly impersonated Marco. Marco sighed, then pulled out his tablet that controlled the resort. He typed in: 'Small Lake' and hit enter. Then, they were on a rowboat in a lake.

"Remember the rebellion? When you were stranded on earth?" Marco sat down. And Star followed doing the same.

"I saw some documents. I guess they were old, they were dated on July 13th 1976. Those documents, it was a list on what happened to all the American towns and cities that were invaded. I found Echo Creek, the town my parents lived in, and read the words…" Marco swallowed out of sorrow. "It read: '_All civilians dead by gas_' I… I hoped they made it out but I never got the chance to confirm it." A moment of silence passed as Star didn't know how to react.

"Eh, they probably made it out. Otherwise how would I be alive? How would I be born?" Marco started to laugh, and Star followed along awkwardly.

"Well, enough about that." Star said "What's in the bag?"

Marco took off his backpack, and unzipped it. He couldn't find a backpack in Mewni, so he bought in in another dimension. Marco reached into the bag and pulled out a red flower.

"It's a poppy." Marco made it spin using his fingers. He gave it to Star.

"Aww, this is… really sweet of you!" Star took the poppy and inspected it. "This is… wow. I never had anyone do stuff like this for me." Then Star added with a whisper : "Except this one guy."

Marco heard her, but decided not to question her. Wasn't really his business. Instead, he held Star's hand and said, "Where I come from, earth, the poppy seeds can lay dormant within the soil for decades. So when the decimation of artillery upturned the ground, between the crosses of the dead, the poppies bloom. Now, do you know why I gave this to you?"

"To signify that we can only get closer through bloodshed and chaos?"

Marco took the poppy and put it in her hair "how about we just forget the poppy?" Marco's hand went from putting on the flower on her hair to putting his hand on her cheek. Star realized that she felt relaxed around Marco, more natural. He was the only person living in Mewni who approved of her natural tendencies.

Her parents would rather have her behave as to keep up the reputation that royalty is better than the average person. To have something in common was to admit that the royal family had no real reason to rule.

Snapping back to reality, Star held Marco closer and leaned in. A moment of silence, then their lips met.

In that moment, Star knew what the poppy meant. They had met in the most chaotic situations, a bloom from destruction. She knew that nothing could get in between them.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Definitely


	11. I be Flossen, I be Flossen

Ch 11: So apparently computers exist.

"What?" Marco looked at the computer. Which really shouldn't exist. Mewni was in an industrial revolution.

"Yup. Connected to all other dimensions. I don't know why my mom doesn't let people other than me and a few other royalty use stuff like this." Star said. "Well, you said you needed some info so-"

"STAR! YOU NEED TO HURRY UP! YOU'RE GONNA MISS THE PARTY!" A distorted voice cried. Star fumbled with her walkie talkie, almost dropping it.

"Yeah yeah, i'm coming." Star talked into the walkie talkie while walking out of the room. "Marco! Remember, don't touch the computer until I get back ok?"

"Star, do you have any doubt in your mind that I would betray you?" Marco said while smiling.

"Oh, and how do I look?" Said Star while cutting open a portal. She spun 360 degrees, her carefully styled hair immediately being whipped around and frizzed.

"Eh… your hair is sorta…" Marco tried to straighten out her hair, but failed miserably. "It's fine. Probably."

"Great!" Star walked through the portal.

After a few quiet moments, Marco immediately went on the computer. There was a search bar on a blue background. He typed in: _Computers in Mewni_

A box of text appeared under the search bar.

"_Computers and other technology not invented within Mewni is banned to everyone except royalty. This has set back the dimension significantly behind the average __**Technology Curve. **__With the average being 50.3 (Usually identified with the invention of __**Enfelden Like Rifles**__)_ _Mewni's is 35.8 (Identified with the invention of __**Steam Engine**__) Mewni scores a 78.8 in the __**World Political Scale **__(Identified with the restriction of freedoms for all races and the power of Government having an __**Authoritarian Power **__after the __**Great War 2 Blitzen Boogaloo**__) While the average __**World Political Scale **__for all dimensions is a 55.5 (Identified with __**That time where everyone thought there was gonna be everlasting peace but then some angry mustache man got into politics **__or less commonly known as "The Interwar Period") This means that __**Mewni is able to restrict information from outside dimensions.**_"

Marco realized that the bolded sections of text were things he could click. He clicked '_**Mewni is able to restrict information from outside dimensions.**_'

_When __**Queen Butterfly XI rose to power**_ _(We just assume she's XI we lost count.) the __**Flossen-Dach mines**_ _discovered a subterranean mountain made of pure Stelen (Stelen is naturally occuring Steel). With insufficient labor to effectively extract all of the iron, __**Queen Butterfly XI Enslaved all people who didn't have blonde hair or blue eyes**__. She stated "It's only like 20 million people out of.. About 9 billion? I'm pretty sure we have the entire planet to ourselves so..." A conspiracy theory emerged outside of Mewni's dimension that theorizes that the Queen did not enslave th_

"Now what do we have here?" Ginger Blossom put her hand on Marco's shoulder. Marco immediately turned the computer off and stood up, freeing himself from her grasp.

"What do you want?" Marco firmly said.

"Don't you remember? You said that you would make yourself valuable to me as long as Star didn't have to marry someone from our family. Well, you certainly have become more valuable. You have people following you around everywhere! We could sure use some PR after..." Ginger trailed off "Well, the point is, I'm adopting you."

Marco took a few moments to process this "So… you… are… going… to… adopt me?"

"Yes."

"No you aren't."

"Yes I am."

"Dang it." Marco had his master plan dismantled "So… do I have to consent or…"

"Nope. Under law, you are considered less of a human than royalty. It would be the same as adopting a dog. So no consent"

"That's rape."

"What?"

"I did not give consent, so that's rape." Marco was slowly shuffling towards the door.

"That's not how it works."

"Yes it is." Marco said.

"Ok… the point is that you're under my custody. Thus, I can prohibit you from doing things."

"No you can't" Marco was almost at the door.

"Wha- ok, enough shenanigans. My prohibitions on you are mandated by law. So I prohibit you from seeing Star."

Marco paused for a moment. "Oh." he whispered.

"Oh indeed. Oh indeed."

"Oh" Marco repeated louder "well, that's… unfortunate. But, perfectly understandable."

"Huh?" Ginger was surprised by his calmness.

"Yeah. I mean dating at 14? That's really unreasonable. We're at that age, and with dating, we don't want anything to fog up her life. She needs lots of training to be ruler!"

"I expected you to take this more harshly, but you're surprisingly-"

"It's fine, really." Marco's voice seemed to get shakier. Voice breaks started to appear. "It's really understandable. She literally has the entire dimension to manage." He started to talk quicker "Come on, some guy can't just distract her from all the enslaved people in the Flossen-Dach mines!"

"Wait how do you know about Flossen-Da-"

"AND! This is a very important, and she needs to make sure all the people don't know about the other dimensions! Of course, ONE person can't just shave a precious hour of her day! No, no, instead we need to know if THE FUCKING CORN IS TO HER TASTE." Marco made his way through the door by shuffling.

"You'll have your own private room in the castle. All expenses paid. All you have to do is follow my one rule. You don't even have to call me mom or anything."

"AH YES BECAUSE THAT IS THE MOST OF MY WORRIES! HAVING TO CALL YOU MOM! OH WHAT SWEET RELIEF. WHERE'S THE ROOM?"

"Should have a flower on it and says Marco Diaz. Down the hall."

"I'M GOING TO MY-" Marco paused, took a deep breath, and said "I'm going to my room to practice my Martial Arts." He closed the door into the computer room.


	12. This would be an acceptable place to end

**AN: I forgot the name of that one guy who was Star's ex in cannon and tried to get himself and Star under the love moon thing but then got knocked over by Marco. I think his name was Tom but I might be wrong so I'm just using Tom. If I'm wrong then just use your imagination and tell me. If im right then tell me I am.**

Ch 12: Big brain move

"Marco? Why do you have a piece of cloth over your right eye?" Star asked as she ran into Marco in the palace halls.

"Well, i've been adopted apparently. And I guess, by law, I'm supposed to follow my legal parent's orders. She ordered me not to see you again, so I just put a blindfold on."

"Yeah, but what about your left eye?"

Marco paused in disbelief "Do… do you not see my eyepatch?"

"Oh yeah! I remember now! Makes perfect se- wait you've been adopted?"

"Yes, but I didn't agree to it. Apparently anyone in the royal family are higher beings, and that's really crazy." Marco used a hand gesture, but faced the wrong way.

"Wait, who adopted you?" Star said with a small concern.

"Ginger Blossom. Why do you ask?"

"Oh. It's happening. Oh no. Calm down Star." Star whispered to herself

"What? What's happening?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all! We, uh, need to go somewhere." Star took Marco's hand and took off his blindfold. Marco didn't protest to it being taken off.

"Hey! I need to move all my stuff from my apartment soon, where are we going?" Marco said as he walked with Star.

"Somewhere private." She said as she walked down the hall and pulled Marco along faster

"That still didn't answer my question. Hey, why's your wand blinking?" Marco pointed at her wand which was slowly blinking pink and beeped. Star took a closer look at the wand.

"That's concerning." Star said. Then she pulled Marco along faster. "We're here!" Star opened the door to a vacant bedroom. The door was unmarked and unremarkable, but the ceiling was higher than a mall interior. Somehow it didn't stick out from the palace, yet there was a staircase going all the way up. At the top, there was a balcony. At the bottom, there was a bed and some puppies running around a potted plant.

"Wow. Nice uhh… bedroom? Yeah this is a bedroom, not a grand lobby or anything." Marco simultaneously awed and cringed at the motivational posters on the walls.

"It's not my _official _bedroom. My mom forces me to make it much more extravagant. Takes me, like, 20 minutes to walk from end to end in my official bedroom. This is a much more comfy place. COME HERE MUNCHKINS! PSPSPSPSPSPSPS." The puppies all walked towards Star, their itty bitty paws tapping on the hardwood floor. Panthing from being so tired from using their short little legs to run around the potted plant. Star hugged all the puppies individually.

Marco stood back and let Star greet all the puppies, each of which were of different fuzzy fur color but it looked like the same breed. He sat there awkwardly, just watching Star.

"I love all of you!" Star said. The puppies ran around and barked happily. Star then walked to the potted plant and picked a leaf from it. The leaf immediately grew back, but all the puppies went back to running around the potted plant.

"So, what are we doing here?" Marco said as Star pushed the potted plant to a hole in the wall. The puppies followed the plant, even inside the hole in the wall. The hole was big enough for all of them to fit in, and Star put a painting over the wall which is somehow soundproof.

"Sit on my bed. I'll show you." Star said, with a break in her voice. Marco obeyed, and sat on her bed. Star sat next to him.

"I… I need to get something off my chest." Star gulped "So, every 667 years, this, uhh" Star started to sweat.

"Star? You ok?"

"This thing happens." Star started to hyperventilate "has something to do with the moon."

"Star, calm down!" Marco made Star look at him in the eyes "anything you say, no matter what it is, I'll still be at your side." He held her hand.

"I… uh… that's the thing… what happened is…" Star had frown.

"Hey, where's that smile?" Marco caressed her cheek.

"I- hah- hmm-"

"Oh for god's sake." Marco said "how about this?" Marco put his hand to the back of Star's head and kissed her deeply. Their breaths both held. Star put her arms around his shoulders. Marco clutched the bed sheets before he pushed her away.

"Alright, I'm guessing you're relaxed now so-" Marco was cut off when Star kissed him again, taking him by surprise and unbalancing him. Marco used his arm to stop him from being knocked down onto the bed. Marco pushed her away again, and an awkward silence followed.

"I got carried away, I guess." Star said without moving from her position.

"It's ok, just ask for consent first. I'm gonna have to pass on this one, I'm saving myself for marri-" Marco was interrupted again when the door opened.

"Sta- STAR? WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?" Some red haired blue skinned weird looking guy shouted. Marco then realized how bad his position was. On the bed, Star over him, and the sheets looked a bit ruffled.

"Tom? Uh… what's up?" Star said with an uncomfortable laugh at the end. Marco rolled out of the bed.

"We've been over this, Star." Tom said.

"Yeah, I was actually about to tell Marco about that!" Star said. Tom stood there in penetrating silence.

"So, this is… uh… it's not what you think?" Marco said while on the floor.

"Star, can we talk in private?" Tom clenched his teeth.

"Sure! Yeah, I can do that." Star got up and followed him out the door and into the hall. Tom closed the door behind them. Marco got up from the floor and sat on the bed waiting for them to finish talking.

After an uncomfortable silence, the door creaked open.

"So, you're name's Marco?" Tom said.

"Yup, and your name's Tom I presume?"

"Yes, and Star didn't tell you about what happened about the party last night? What you did was an honest mistake?" Tom said as Star walked in.

"Wait, what party?"

"Wow. She really hasn't told you anything, has she?" Tom gave Star a glance "Just to paraphrase, every 667 years this special event happens to the moon. And anyone who falls under the moon's light that night, are _destined _to fall that night."

Marco licked his lips "Excuse me?"

"Please don't lick my lips again."

"Sorry Tom. But, what? So what does that have to do with-"

"That event happened last night." Star said.

"Oh." Marco put the pieces together in that moment "Wh- what are the chances tha-"

"We were in the Moonlight." An awkward silence followed

"Ah. And what happens if you deviate from the Moon's destiny?" Marco bit his nails.

"Nothing really. You're just delaying the inevitable." Tom said "So Star and I talked it over and-"

"I'm breaking up with you." Star abruptly said "I wanted to do this more slowly to not hurt your feelings because I knew it would eventually happen anyway."

Marco took a deep breath, and said "Oh thank god."

"Wait what?" Star and Tom said in unison.

"To be honest, I was digging a deeper grave. I didn't want to hurt your feelings, so I just went along with it." Marco said with a weight off his shoulders "I just wanted to be friends with you."

"So, you wont try to get her back?" Tom said triumphantly "Maybe I've finally won! Ha!"

"You were lying that whole time?" Star said "I sort of suspected something, but you're a really good liar."

"No hard feelings? We can still be friends?" Marco stood up and faced Star.

"No hard feelings." Star definitely had hard feelings.

Marco hugged Star "Thank you."

Tom hugged Marco "Thank you for not making this more complicated."

"This is weird." Marco said while hugging Star and being hugged by Tom.


	13. Guess what bitches, the ride never ends

Ch 13: Sunny ZOOOOOO the style of squaring up

"Can I go move my stuff into my room?" Marco poked his head into Ginger's room.

"Sure, why are you asking me though?" Ginger said while eating a muffin.

"Technically, you're my mom." Marco said "why'd you even adopt me anyway?"

"I didn't want you to get ties to the Queen. We needed a true, full blooded Blossom to do that."

"Why do they call Star a queen though? She's not married." Marco opened the door fully.

"I don't know." Ginger said.

"And how are you related to her? Last I checked you all have different last names."

"Chervil is married to Star's mom's cousin, I think. Very weak connection, so we're trying to strengthen that." Ginger was being so unexpectedly open to her schemes.

"Why are you trying to get more power?"

"You know about Flossen-Dach right? Well there are about a thousand more mines like that. It took about 4 billion people to sufficiently man all of them. Some magic, and the population was restored outside of the mines." Ginger took another bite out of the muffin "Think about it. 4 billion people, all subjected to the mines. Imagine the suffering. And what do we have to show for it? Enough metal to fill a valley?"

"You want to free them?"

"Every Blossom does."

"Ok, uh, i'm just gonna move my stuff now." Marco left, contemplating his place in the royal family tree and his place in the conflict he found himself in.

He went to the stables, which had a take a horse leave a horse system. There was a lever on the wall, and Marco reluctantly pulled it. All of a sudden, green glitters blinded him. By the time he brushed them off, he had a new found a horse that was made out of metal.

He got on it and immediately rode off like a professional. Riding through the city and avoiding the crowds that followed him. He made his way to his apartment and started to pack everything up. Mostly just his 40 red jackets. He looked under his bed, and saw everything he brought from his own world.

Schematics for cars, poetry, scripts for plays, diagrams for military formations, tank blueprints, gun blueprints, art, books such as Sun Tzu's Art of War, and a family picture.

Marco looked at the picture for a long time, then folded it up and put it in his pocket. He went back to the palace and put everything in its place. He put the picture of his family in a locked chest. He then took a nap.

"MARCO! WAKE UP!" Star was right over Marco.

"AH!" Marco fell of his bed "STAR? Wh- WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Well I was bored."

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Marco got up "What about your other friends?"

"All of them have different plans."

"Royal resort?" Marco asked

"Full."

"Tom?"

"Not here."

"Hotel?"

"Trivago."

Marco sighed "Well, what do you have in mind?"

"I was hoping you had the answer for that."

"You- actually, I do need some help with something." Marco said "Ginger never signed me up for any education. I need to go to school."

"Wow. You are a nerd."

"I wouldn't exactly call it tha-"

"NEEEEEEEEERD!" Star teased "NERRRRRR-"

"Look, Star, i'm just looking for something productive to do."

"Ok, uh, I'll ask one of my helpers to set you up with… what do you want to study?"

"What's the closest you have to self defense? Just trying to be safe, you know?"

"I think the closest we have is military leadership. Comes with sword training, leading an army, and a chance to be an official military leader once you become of age."

"I'll take it!" Marco noticed that Star still had a poppy in her hair "Hey, is that-"

"I just like it there!" Star defensively said "I like how it looks!"

"You're awfully defensive about this."

"I-" She got red at the heart-shaped cheeks "This was a gift from you! You gave me this new look, and it looked great!"

"You do look hella cute." Marco said "Well, I guess I'll be going to school soon."

"Yup." Star took her poppy from her hair "I'll be seeing you around." Star left. Once out of sight of Marco, she put the poppy back onto her hair


	14. If there was a HOI4 mod about SVTFOE?

Ch 14: Comets and blueberries

Marco flipped through the book, looking for anything that involved drugs that made people really open up to their plans. He was also eating one of the blueberry muffins. He got it from a _Take one muffin! _Table in the middle of the hall.

Marco found one drug: _K__æṕfajn is a drug found only in comets. This drug causes Mewmans, and Mewmans only, confess any secrets and schemes. It is also found in trace amounts in blueberries. Eating blueberries is illegal within Mewnian land._

Marco thought about the _Take one muffin! _table. He NEEDS to take all of those muffins! He also needs to dispose of them. Perhaps, he would need to eat them.

"A valiant sacrifice." Marco whispered.

A few minutes later, Marco stuffed 50 muffins into a locked chest. He then got on the computer. For dinner, he ate a blueberry muffin and slept. He thought about why the blueberry muffins were out there.

"MARCO YOU NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL!" Star pulled off Marco's bedsheets.

"Do you really have nothing else to do? You have an entire country to manage." Marco said with his eyes still closed.

"That's what the regents are for! Now come on, ya big nerd!" Star said. Marco got up and got ready.

"So, where do I go to school?"

"Well, follow me!" Marco followed her through the halls. They then came upon a library. "The teacher's in there!"

"So, are there any rules or anything or should I…" Marco was pushed in by Star before he could finish.

Marco looked around. It was a library, shelves of books on one side and a few tables on the other. There was a carpet and a checkout desk. On one of the tables was an old man, his head was down and he was sleeping.

Marco walked to the man and awoke him "Ay, you awake?"

"Ah- What?" The old man had frayed white hair and a wrinkled face, "Who are you?"

"I'm here for the military leadership training."

"Wait, you actually signed up for that?" The old man laughed "You just want the free cookies, don't you? I don't mind, Mewni's not going to war anytime soon." The old man pulled out a box of cookies.

"I actually do want to learn, though. Self defense."

"Oh." At first there was shock, then a joy "you really do want to learn, boyo?" The old man said with a sweet smile. Sort of like when grandma gave you some candy. "Been a while since I actually trained someone. This old brain still has it, i'd bet." He got a box from under the table.

"What's your name?" Marco asked

"Walter Wenck. And you are?"

"Marco Diaz." Marco said as Walter opened the box. As he did, Marco saw that it was an intricately designed game-board. It depicted a continent, surrounded by water. Mountains and rivers, towns and cities, the biggest of which looked alot like the city of Mewni.

"Alright, so this is a magic map that shows us what would happen if we were to fight on Mewnian land." Walter pointed to Mewni with a stick "If I use this stick, I can tell people to go around. People can fight, deliver food, etc. Works because of magic."

"Oh cool."

"We'll be using this to simulate what it would be like if you had to command an army. Supplies, morale, weather and more will all play a part. I'll play as the invaders." He took a cookie out of the cookie box and took a bite.

"So you won't be helping me?" Marco asked.

"You will learn on your own."

"That's sorta weird but okay. When will I learn self defense?" Marco really just signed up for the class for the self defense.

"After you pass Grand-scale military, i'll give you a fancy sword. Then we can start on that. But first…" Walter took a new cookie from the cookie box "Would you like a cookie?"


	15. Marco commands his first army

Ch 15: Caught in the crossfire.

"What happened to your eye, Marco?" Walter used his wand to direct a marching army on the table. The army looked like a tiny crown of ants, that were somehow humanoid.

"It was infected. It had to be cut out." Marco experimented with the wand, directing armies and executing commands. Rest, rolecall, and defensive positions by just thinking. When he got the results back, he just knew within his mind.

"Infected? How?" Walter ordered his army to land on a beach. The army then started to march towards Mewni from the south.

"I don't like to talk about it much." Marco noticed the incoming army, and noticed that there were only three ways for Walter's army to reach Mewni: Through monster infested mountains, along a vulnerable river cutting through the mountains, or some plains to the side of the mountains. Marco tried his luck and positioned his army along the river.

Walter grunted "Does hurt now?" Walter made his Army move through the plains.

"Sometimes. But I have a way to relieve the pain." Marco retreated his army and remembered something. He could make people do _anything _in this game. He made a supply party in Mewni, then made them go get weapons from another dimension. By the time the guns reached the army, Walter's army had advanced towards Mewni with no resistance. That would change.

"What are you doing?" Walter whispered. "What's your plan, sonny?"

"It's time to end this war by christmas." Marco set up his army in a line a good distance from the frontline. He then instructed his armies to do one thing: _Entrench_

Dark lines ran along the soon to be front. Layers upon layers of trenches made the map a bit like an onion. A metal rock hard onion. As Walter advanced, he hit the trenches. His advanced halted.

The advance did more than halt. The advance was devastated. Almost medieval armies clashed with the fire of machine guns on the battleground. Almost every time Walter lost. Nay, he didn't just lose, he was utterly defeated. Walter rammed his armies against the utter concrete wall. When he actually broke through, there was just another layer of trench.

"Smart kid." Walter took a bite from a cookie "Never seen this before."

Marco finally got artillery to the frontline. He started to shell the enemy front. The devastation was so great that he could see the mud. Now it was not a hell of fire, it was a hell of mud.

"The Great War." Marco looked upon the front. The fierce defense of Mewni was only matched by the determination to Walter. Again and again the front was rammed into. Again and again they defended.

"Eh, I've seen bigger. Never did command in any." Walter desperately tried to reinforce his troops to no avail. The first snow of winter started to fall on the battlefield, the cold was surely gonna starve Walter out. That was when Marco was gonna strike.

"Aren't you a commander?" Marco asked.

"Yup. But there aren't any wars recently. I wish something could happen, so I could use my skills for once"

"I'll keep that in mind." Marco ordered the counter attack in the middle of a blizzard. Swiftly, Walter was pushed back. Marco made some armies conquer the beaches, slashing any hopes of escape. Marco had no need to do this, he just thought it would be something to brag about. Killing the entire army on the first go.

"Aaaaand you lose." Marco said as the last army fell.

"Good game kid." Walter held his hand out. Marco shook it.

"Mighty fine game." Marco then realized there was some text on the gameboard "hey, what's this?"  
"Oh just some sayings made up by the troops. Chants and what not. Would you like to read them?"

Marco read them outloud "'Hell is not fire. It is mud. Cold, cold mud.' -from an interview after the war."

"Well, that's weird." Walter seemed confused about the sayings.

"'I give my life, for my homeland. But who will mourn me? The troops will keep on marching.' -A song popular on the frontlines" Marco seemed invested in reading.

"'They were dying. And I fired upon them. They tell me it was for Mewni, but what about them?' -A popular poem from the frontlines"

"'The front is hell, Maria. I may not die, but the screams of the enemy is touture.' -A letter from the front."

"'The grandest orchestra I ever heard. It will resonate for one million years.' -An injured civilian caught in the-" Marco looked away from the text.

Walter closed the gameboard "You ok buddy?"

Marco rubbed his eye "Yes. I'm just- I need a minute."

"Well, you obviously need it."

Marco took a few deep breaths. "Ok, so I'm not looking at those again."

"Good, because we'll be playing a few more games for our lesson." Walter opened the box. It was reset, and the land was pristine.

"Walter, that wasn't a real war I just commanded right?"

"Of course it isn't a real war." Walter said with a smile.

"Good." Marco said. Though when he played the next game, he felt a twinge of guilt. He knew they were not real, but he still felt bad when he utterly destroyed Walter.


	16. Mayo on tacos? Don't you mean HERESY?

Ch 16: A taste of home

"Taco shells are basically just crunchy tortillas, right?" Marco spoke to himself in the kitchen. Sunlight came in from a window, giving the kitchen a warm feeling. As if there was an orange tint to all of it.

"So, first of all, dough." Marco found some flour and water. He used his hands to mix the two in a bowl until he got a goopy semi-solid mess. Glops of what could be called dough stuck to his fingers.

"Marco! What's up!" Star walked into the kitchen, and hugged him from the back.

"Star! Get off my back, I'm making something important!"

Star let go and looked at the dough on the table "It looks like you're cooking! What're you cooking Marco? Tell me!"

"I'm making tacos."

"Sounds tasty! What is it?"

"Do you not know what a taco is?" Marco said while letting go of the dough "It's like this chip that holds meat and stuff."

"Can you show me how to make one?" Star said. Marco looked at her, and couldn't turn her down.

"Wash your hands and get some corn." Marco did his best to get the dough off of his fingers. He added flour to his hands and table, then added more flour to the runny dough. The dough doesn't stick anymore, and the dough actually felt like dough and not some slime.

"I got the corn!" Star shouted triumphantly "What do I do now?"

"Cut the kernels off the cob." Marco said. Star looked in the drawers and found a knife. She eagerly set the corn upright and pushed the knife downwards. She immediately cut herself.

"Ah fu-"

"Don't swear." Marco immediately said.

"What?"

"Don't swear. The tacos won't taste as good if you swear." Marco let go of the dough "I'll cut the corn, you do make some more dough." Marco started to cut the corn. He didn't know how the corn was incorporated in the recipe, he just knew it was in there somewhere. Marco reasoned that if he just mixed the corn with the dough it would at least be edible.

Marco cut the corn in a rhythm. Zoning out and thinking to himself. He was trying to make tacos, but why? There wasn't a need to make food. Marco could just buy it with all the donations he gets. He felt like making tacos because… he missed earth?

_Yeah, that's it._ Marco thought to himself. He didn't delve deeper into this thought.

He cut all of the corn off the cob. Then, still in the rhythm of cutting, immediately walked to and mindlessly plunged his fingers into the dough from the side of the table. He swung himself so that he could see the dough better, and accidentally bumped into Star.

Star immediately turned her head towards Marco, who also looked up. They were uncomfortably close, both of them didn't move in anticipation. Both of them confused, and didn't have time to think.

"So this is akwar-" Marco couldn't finish as Star immediately kissed him.

It was quick, after a moment Star pulled away, back turned and cheeks blushing. Marco stood there, wide eyed.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Marco said.

"He's was my ex before for a reason." Star said without turning back "I'm only back with him because he's a teeny bit… crazy. He would absolutely explode if he found out I still like you. And I'm afraid that he would hurt you."

"I thought the blood moon made you two like each other?"

"It promises that we will be destined to be together. It doesn't nullify any relationships that are still going on." Star still didn't turn back, instead her head bowed down in sadness "I still like you."

"Well, what are we gonna do about it?" Marco fiddled with his hands.

"I don't know."

"Well, there's one I can think of!" Marco broke the atmosphere with his cheery voice. "How about we finish these tacos?"

Star turned to Marco, and smiled.

The end result of their improvised taco was not like any taco Marco remember. The shell was a flatbread with bits of corn in it. The filling was some meat, lettuce, and mayonnaise (Marco protested that filling heavily, but caved in once he realized there was no sour cream in stock.)

Marco bit into one. It tasted good but it wasn't the taste that did it for him, it was the time he spent with Star making it.


	17. The next quarter

**SECOND QUARTER**

"_And I can fight only for something that I love, love only what I respect, and respect only what I at least know."_

\- Adolf Hitler


	18. Dress up

Ch 17: Getting ready

Inside the castle, Marco was trying on different clothes.

"Star, do I REALLY have to go with you? Like, it's boring stuff! And you're just there for tradition, you don't actually have to say anything!" Marco said while taking off a dress shirt.

"This is a really important meeting! It's gonna be one for the history books, so you better look sharp. That's what mom told me." Star said from the other side of the bedroom door "This is probably going to be your biggest appearance in Mewni politics, and other than that you're a small blurb in a history book."

"Unless people find out about us, Star!" Marco put on a light blue dress shirt and a black dress coat.

"A tiny little scandal won't make an entire chapter in history, but this meeting will."

"What's so important about this meeting?" Marco said as he looked at himself in the mirror. He noted a distinct lack of color.

"This is gonna be the first time Mewni talks to another dimension's nation since mom took power. It's the people we got in trouble with before!"

"Wait, you mean the Nazis?" Marco stopped picking out his pants in shock.

"Yeah! Those guys!"

"Well, i'll be _looking_ forwards to meeting them." Marco put on his eye patch. He figured that it would be best to keep his mouth shut.

Star laughed "Well, are you gonna finish up in there or are you still looking for that perfect suit?"

Marco put on some pants and stepped out and spinned around "What do you think?"

Star examined Marco "Well, it's a little… bland."

"I was afraid of that. That's why I got some poppies earlier!"

"You're really all over this flower, huh?" Star said as Marco put a poppy on his lapel.

"It's the first flower I gave to you, so it's like, sort of special in a way." Marco spun around again "What about now?"

"It's better!" Star said "Ok, now that I've helped you pick out your clothes I need to get to the throne room and sit in the big chair." Star took one step towards the door leading to the hallway, then was held back by Marco.

"What, no kiss?" Marco said

Star chuckled, and quickly kissed Marco on the cheek. She then left and Marco was left to his own devices. Marco took some time to ready himself for a boring few hours. He was told by Ginger Blossom that he had to go there because he was her legal son. Ginger hadn't been much of a mother, she wasn't cautious around Marco and barely gave him attention. Life would be much the same if she wasn't there personally. But Marco being her adopted son secured his place in the royal house. He wouldn't see Star much more often.

Marco checked that he had his dull knife on him. Weeks had passed since he started taking lessons from Walter. After Walter implemented the same tactic Marco used, the game became a boring, tedious, and dragging. Walter made Marco move on to self defense and promised that they would pick tactics up later. The dull knife was for training, but he brought it just in case. Just to be safe.

"Just to be safe…" Marco remembered his old school and how he would take every precaution to not get injured. Marco shrugged off this thought, as he didn't want to think of it any further. Instead he occupied himself with going to the meeting.


	19. The teacher called me I wasn't listening

Ch 18: Little notes

"It's so boring here…" Marco whispered to himself. Leaning in his chair, he looked around the room. High standing officials from all around the Mewnian kingdom were there, talking about complicated stuff Marco could care less about. Rows of desks with Star at the end, sitting on her throne. This gave him an idea.

"You have a pen?" Marco said to Ginger, who was next to him. Ginger gave him a pen without looking at him. On the desk in front of him, there was a stack of documents detailing what the subject of the meeting was. Marco took one of the pages and wrote some words on it: _Star, I was thinking that we could go out after this? -Marco_

After pretending to receive the note from the person to his left, he gave the folded note to Ginger and said, "Please pass this to Star." Ginger took the note and passed it to the person next to her. Eventually the note reached Star. When she read it, she looked at Marco with a subtle smile. She replied by sending the note back with more text: _I'd love that! :) how about we go to this bouncy castle dimension? ~Star._ Accompanied with a drawing of a flower.

Marco added: _I'd love that! Also, just to pass time, let's add onto the flower. I'll start. _With adding a bee near the flower.

Star added a tree.

Marco added a beehive oozing with honey, and added: _because you're so sweet._

Star added a bunny and wrote: _because you're so cute when you aren't sad_

This made Marco's stay at the meeting a little shorter, and by the end they had drawn a small meadow with comments all over. When the meeting was dismissed, Marco caught up to Star.

"Hey, Star! So we're going to that bouncy castle place?"

"Well, not yet. I still have to do some work, but we'll go soon!" Star said.

"Work? Is it related to the stuff in the meeting? Because I didn't pay attention."

"I barely listened, but from what I heard we declared war and-"

"What?" Marco perked up.

"We declared war?"

Marco paused for a moment, and said ,"You do realize that's bad? It's like, really bad."

"It was one of those moments when you snapped back to reality after zoning out, and everyone was looking at you for your answer!" Star argued "Besides, how bad can a war be?"


	20. war bad peace good

Ch 19: War bad, peace good.

"So, war good peace bad?"

"No!" Marco pointed to the diagram he made on the whiteboard he wheeled in "War bad, peace good! Are you even taking notes on there?"

Star looked at her doodles in her notebook "Yes?"

"Good. How about we start at the beginning, what are we fighting for?"

"I think… because I said so?" Star said.

"Nope. Because your colleagues wanted help in running the nation, and in return for 50 people and some oil Germany would help."

"And?" Star said.

"You don't have oil."

"So?"

"After the Germans left, everyone panicked because they didn't have oil. And you said 'Sure yeah' to everyone debating whether or not to invade some other dimension for their oil."

"So we're just gonna repay some debt, what's so bad about that?"

"Star, you know _why _my eye got removed?"

"Is it becau-"

"It's because I got captured, and I got captured because of a war."

"I was gonna say that!" Star was most definitely not gonna say that.

"Point is war is bad because people get hurt, you see?"

"You definitely don't see as much as I do." Star chuckled.

"Star, do you get it? Is war bad peace good?"

"War bad peace good." Star said.

"So, call off the war!"

"I can't just do that! People would be upset, my mom said that we would either surrender or win."

"What about white peace? Just make everything as it once was!" Marco's voice became more and more desperate.

"Again, I would need a reason." Star said, "Besides, I gave you a job in this war!"

"You what?!" Marco shouted, "I cant take part in this war, I can't take part in it!"

"Marco, it's not that bad of a positi-"

"I- I can't take part in the mindlessness, I can't support it. I cant put others through what I've been through." Marco began pacing as he whispered, "I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't."

"Marco? Are you alright?"

"Does it LOOK like I'm ok?!" Marco shouted "What am I gonna do? What's the position?"

"You're gonna be the guy who awards medals!" Star said, "It's gonna be great!"

"Oh," Marco calmed down "that's good. I thought I would be, like, commanding people or something." Marco breathed a sigh of relief.

"If you feel that strongly about that, then you're definitely not doing it!" Star said, "I promise it."


	21. First day on the job

Ch 19: The Sign of Blood

"Alright," Marco flipped through the paper. It had information about someone who got injured. "Injured in the first battle, saved two of his comrades in the midst of battle before collapsing." Marco read.

"So, am I getting the medal?" The man across the table, the man who Marco was reading about, eagerly said.

"Probably," Marco said "I'm just here to give you an interview, and I'm also present when you get a medal. What kind of medal can you get?"

"The Sign of Blood, sir." The man said, "Given to soldiers who prevent the spillage of blood. Saving lives."

"And, tell me how it all went down. What's the deal? What Happened?" Marco asked.

The man thought back to where he was, where it had started. Where would he

start? Maybe he should start at the very beginning, maybe the stories of the old Mewni. The Mewni that drove all the monsters from their dimension. The Mewni he admired so, and the Mewni he saw rising up again in the new war. That had made him join the army.

He probably should start with the battle itself. How they marched into what the scissors ripped. The change of the air from the stuffy barracks, to the clear crisp air of a coast. They marched in columns, two by six segments of men, each equipped with armor and a sword. They were led by men on horseback, inspecting them. He was a medic, and he saw where they were marching towards. A delivery center, on the rocky cliffs. Cars moving in and out of it.

Marco probably knew all of this, so the man started in the battle.

"We were told to secure the building and everything in it. Cars took first priority, then people." The man said. Marco listened intently. "I wasn't there for the majority of the battle, I stayed back and treated those who were brought to me as ordered."

"Go on," Marco said once the man paused for a moment.

"The battle lasted the entire morning, by the afternoon we were winning and I was ordered to move into the building. I started working there. At this point, I had not even seen an enemy but I heard them. I heard cracks like lightning shake the ground, and shake the air. From the people I worked on, I gathered that the enemy had explosive projectiles, so they were using magic." The man looked at his bandaged arm. "Then… then the world shook with a force of 10,000 giant goat stampedes. Around me, the building gave way. Crushing everyone around me. I survived, but it got my arm good."

"What about the people you saved?" Marco asked.

"After the dust subsided, I tried to retreat back outside. But I must've gone the wrong way because I got to the main battlegrounds. That's where I found three soldiers, trapped in the rubble. Had it not been for me, they would've bled out right then and there because literally everyone else was trapped. I saved those three because they would've bled out before anyone else could. The others survived until-"

"Three?" Marco said.

"Darn it. I guess I won't be getting that medal after all." The man said, "I… may or may not have saved an enemy soldier."

Marco sat there, thinking about what to do when he spoke up again "He was bleeding out, and he was crying for help. At least I think he was, he was speaking a different language. I helped him out, it was the right thing to do."

"I'm not gonna report this." Marco said "What you did, was save a life. It doesn't matter what life you saved, you deserve The Sign of Blood."


	22. They have a moment on the roof

Ch 20: Birthday party! Yay! Cheer!

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" Marco sat at the end of the table, with a few friends he made on his time in Mewni at his side.

"Happy birthday dear Marco…. Happy birthday to you!" Marco blew out the candles and cheered, as did everyone else.

"Woo! Yeah! Alright, everyone gets some cake!" Marco stood up.

"Wait, aren't you gonna get your own slice?"

"Do you not want cake?" Marco said. At that moment, everyone jumped on the chocolate cake.

Marco watched them take pre-sliced pieces off the square cake. They were all so happy, so very carefree. Marco walked up to his room unnoticed by his peers. There, he picked up a dusty chest, opened the windows and crawled out onto the roof.

At this vantage point, he got a good view of the Mewnian countryside. Portals dotted the fields, with people that looked like ants from the roof coming in and out. Marco saw these from his window months ago and when he asked about it he found out the portals were leading into territory occupied by the Mewnians during the oil war. The ants going in were fresh recruits, the ants going out were soldiers too injured to be treated on the front, or worse.

Marco looked at the not so dusty chest now that it sat in the wind for a while. He stared at the front of it, lost in thought of what lied inside. His thoughts were broken when he heard footsteps behind him. By the weight of the steps, he identified who it was.

"Star," Marco said, almost dismissively "why, on god's green earth, are you here?" he didn't turn around to face her.

"I was thinking you needed cheering up!" Star had an armful of puppies "so I brought you these!" Marco had gotten into a pattern. If you couldn't find him embracing the masses or somewhere in the castle, he was up in his sulking roof, the roof in which he sulks.

Marco sighed "Star, I think you should know something."

_Oh boy, here we go again,_ Star thought. Every time he said that he would dish out a lecture about why the war was bad. He spewed out the same reasons, 'Nazis are bad,' 'People get hurt,' 'Civilians get caught in the crossfire' It was exhausting.

"Puppies! Go!" Star unleashed the puppies to pounce on Marco. The puppies did pounce on Marco, and they did too well of a job. Marco was knocked over, which was 10x as worse as normal because they were on a roof. Marco was knocked off, along with his chest.

"OH MY GOSH." Star took out her wand "PICKUPREALLYFASTLIKERIGHTNOW" Marco was pulled back up to the roof along with his chest. He was plopped down on his back.

After taking a few moments, Marco motioned Star to join him in lying down. Star complied.

"So, what is it you want to tell me?" Star said, ready to cast a noise-canceling spell.

Marco opened the chest and took out one of its contents: a picture of his old family. "This was my life before I was forced here. That was my dad, my mom, good little Echo Creek family. Then everything happened. I was spontaneously transported about 50 years into the past, and you, _you _changed the course of history. That one battle had enough of a butterfly effect to turn the tide of the second world war. As a result, my grandparents were killed, and that should've ended me. I'm still here. I still have memories of my parents that should have never been. I am a dimensional paradox. Then, I had a choice. When I had the option to go to a dimension that mirrored my own, or somewhere else. I chose to go here. You know why? Because I knew, I _fucking_ knew, any other dimension would be fake. Sure I could have gone to a dimension with everyone I know. Their memories the same as mine, but I knew they would not be my legitimate friends, family. Only puzzle pieces from another box perfectly fit. The only real friend I would know of was you. And I knew you liked me, so I used that. I used that to root myself in. Now I feel like I need to avenge myself, avenge my old life. I want to start commanding an army so that I can help end the war quicker by any means possible. Do you understand, Star?" Marco turned his head at Star "Star?"

"Yeah yeah, civilians will get in the crossfire, innocents will be caught, innocents will die," Star said.

"Noise-canceling magic…" Marco wrote a summary of what he said on the back of the photo. He had plenty more photos of them in the chest. He put the photo in Star's hand.


	23. The high command

Ch 21: War is mainly just a lot of waiting around, not a lot of action.

"She appointed you?" Everyone around the table said in unison.

"Yeah?" Marco was intimidated by all the adults around the table. It made him feel like a toddler on the ISS. Just a kid in between the experts.

"Well, sit down and I'll give you an idea of the frontline." Marco's former mentor, Walter, stood up and guided Marco to a chair away from the table.

As Marco sat down he heard the main team around the table, which had a map on it, immediately erupt.

"WE ARE SENDING TOO MANY MEN TO DIE ON THE FRONTLINES! THE MERE LOGISTICS OF SENDING ALL THOSE BODIES BACK IS-"

"SO YOU WANT BODIES TO JUST ROT ON THE FRONT LINE YOU SICK FU-"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP WE HAVE TO COME UP WITH A PLAN FOR BREAKING THROUGH THE ARDEI-"

"YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT BODIES? HALF OF ALL OUR SWORDS HAVE BEEN LOST IN BATTLE! OUR FACTORIES CANNOT KEEP U-"

At that point, it devolved into insults being thrown without any talk of military matters.

"That doesn't seem very… professional." Marco said.

Walter sighed "I tried to organize them, but they dismissed me as I'm old." Walter took a seat in front of Marco "Alright, listen to me closely."

"We've made much progress on a peninsula, but we are blocked from the rest of the dimension from a blockade. We tried to break through the line of fortresses, but so far we have had no luck. For about two weeks we tried but to no avail."

"Two weeks…" Marco whispered, "Have you intercepted any messages from them?"

"Yes, we've shot down a few carrier pigeons with our bows, but they seem unimportant. All of them at the table thinks it's some sort of code, but literally all of the messages are the same."

"What does the message read?"

"'_The glory of a strong soldier, Resist and bite!'_"


	24. Boots on the ground

Ch 22: the 52nd battle of the Ardeiser-Valdari fortresses

As they were speaking the war was going on, of course. And on the northern side of the Valdari river, a series of forts held back the Mewnian. Rowley Turning peeked out of the viewing hole, getting a peek of the battlefield. What was once the Ardeiser forest was now burned down to the ground, with occasional craters littering the landscape. This hellish view was the best he could hope for today, for he hoped nothing would change. That no battle would take place.

Of course, this was wishful thinking. There were about 3 battles every day, although no battles on the fort he was assigned to. He took part in all of them though, all 51 of them across the Valdari forts. He then heard metal creaking next to him. He was alone, so sound inside the fort could mean two things: A new message in the nesting box or he was going crazy. Thankfully, it was the former. A pigeon flew in through the pigeon door and into the nesting cage.

Turning opened the cage door and retrieved the message from the bird's leg. It was the same message he had seen 51 times: "_The Glory of a Strong Soldier!_" Turning recognized the handwriting. It was Joseph's, assigned to fort 18. That was a major advantage the defenders had, there were so few of them that they had no need to send risky communications. Joseph was likely also alone in his own fort. Turning flipped the paper over on the back and wrote: "_Resist and Bite!_" He then released the pigeon back out, confirming that he would be there.

Turning picked up his _Bellumnum, _which is a magical wand used specifically for war. He then opened a trapdoor near the back of the fort and found himself in the rudimentary tunnels again. These tunnels connected each and every fort to each other so that people can be redistributed with ease. This made it seem like each and every fort was manned with 100 people when in reality there would only be 100 people across the entire Valdari line.

Turning made his way across the tunnels, feeling the occasional rock hit his dirty uniform. It was worse a few days ago, cramped and almost alive with everything crawling in the tunnels. It got better because of extensive use, though. The tunnels were made surprisingly quickly in the first place, there were only 6 days of warning when high command said they couldn't supply reinforcements. Then someone proposed the tunnels.

Turning ran into one of his comrades, but he made no greeting. Both of them were too morose at what was to come. He ran into more and more, and he sensed a universal feeling of dread. He understood, and this was not the first time the universal dread happened.

He heard sounds of battle as he neared his destination. Rumble of the ceiling from footsteps and magical explosions, then clanking of metal, then muffled screams and war chants. War chants in his own language, and war chants in Mewni's language. Shame he didn't choose English as a language to master, his other two languages seemed non-important now.

Turning reached his destination. The sounds of battle were clear now, with a ladder coming down from a trapdoor that led up to fort 18. He climbed up it. And ran to the front.

Turning got a clear view of the battlefield and took it in for a moment. Columns of the Mewnian elite, or what he assumed were the Mewnian elite, struggled to hold together as they marched onto the fort. A storm the day before had turned the dirt into mud, explosions from _Bellumnum _made this mud almost deadly, as explosions would displace mud on top of Mewnians and trap them. And the explosions themselves could make columns of Mewnians scatter. But they always seemed to reorganize no matter how many had drowned in the mud.

Turning made his contribution over the course of two hours, casting explosion spells that made the battlefield into more of a hell than it previously was. He observed Mewnians trying to flee the battle, and he wouldn't let that happen. The weather changed during that time into a light shower. This seemed to be the last straw for the Mewnians, as the formations devolved from tight columns to loose groups to all-out scatter. This actually made it harder to get a two-in-one hit. Then, he heard metal creak behind him.

"YO YOU WERE RIGHT!" Turning looked back and saw a Mewnian poking his head out of the trapdoor. He hesitated in casting an explosion, as that would destroy the fort. That hesitation was enough for the Mewnian to pop back down.

It didn't take long after that. Turning told the soldiers what he just saw but it was too late. The Mewnians had infested the tunnels, and they couldn't hold off a two-front war. They were quickly overrun.

Turning was disarmed and forced on his knees in a row with his fellow soldiers. He saw their uniforms mud-stained from the tunnels. He saw their eyes, sunken from 18 days of battle. Then he saw some of them smiling, which confused him but when he thought of the battles from the Mewnian's point of view, he understood. And he gave a small smirk.

He envisioned the flag of their nation, which is the head of a boar, and smirked some more. The boar was a powerful beast, and to defeat it there had to be ten fallen men before the boar's head would be triumphantly shown. And the word 'triumphantly' is used very loosely.


	25. Get pwned you mewnian newbs

Ch 23: Pyrrhic Victory

They were arranged in a line, Mewnian soldiers menacingly brandished their swords at them to deter any thoughts of rebellion. One man paced up and down the line, inspecting them. Turning looked straight ahead, just because he was taken prisoner now doesn't mean he can't serve his nation further. He just needed the right moment to strike.

The man paused in front of one of Turning's friends. The man began to speak.

"Ist das alles? Nur 40 Leute?" (_Is this it? Only 40 people?_) The man said "Wo ist der Rest?" (_Where is the rest?_)

Turning took in a sharp breath. He may know how to serve his country more by delaying the Mewnians.

The man pulled out a sword and made it rest on the soldier's shoulder. "Wenn Sie mir nicht sagen, wo der Rest von ihnen ist, fällt ihm der Kopf ab" (_If you do not tell where the rest of them are, his head comes off_) He looked up and down the line for reactions.

"Eins," (_One,_)

"Zwei" (_Two_)

The man took one last look at every one. Not even the man he was threatening to kill reacted. He lifted the sword.

"DRE-" (_THRE-_)

"Warum fragst du mich nicht, dass du Mewnian fickst?" (_Why don't you ask me you Mewnian fuck?_) Turning said.

The man, taken aback by Turning's understanding of German, walked to him. "Wo ist der Rest von dir?" (_Where are the rest of you?_) He said, agitated and menacing.

Turning looked him in the eye and, from the back recesses of his mind, recalled middle school Mewnian. He whispered, "The entire Mewnian army was held back by forty people. A little embarrassing, yes?" Then Turning laughed in his face, then punched the man in the face.

The man took a second to realign his senses, then he shouted at the guards "Beat this one good!" Then he whispered to himself, "Should have never tried that 'scary doesn't care if you can understand him' style"

Though in their situation any normal man would be trembling, they were not men. They were boars. Ten men would have to fall before they would, and it looks like they haven't fallen yet. These were the Nation's pride. That nation, the nation of Miles, had many more in stock.

**AN: **aight lads remove the bolded part from "youtube.**bolded**com/watch?v=iGtEH1i78sI" and put that into your search bar


	26. Tom is one crazy guy

Ch 24: Tom gets suspicious

"I think Star is cheating on me"

"Nonsense!" Marco said "Is that all you called me here for? Because then i'll be on my wa-"

"She gets anxious when I come in her room without warning and gets bored around me. The only possible explanation is that she has some more interesting things to attend to, so interesting in fact that she has to keep it secret." Tom explained while pacing in the back palace garden they met up in.

"You're overthinking this way too much, dude. Besides, look at what you have! Been going strong for one year now, and for early teen relationships that's really long."

"Exactly." Tom said, "It's a long relationship, but she isn't interested in me. It may be living, but it's not strong."

Marco gave out a smile "You have a foolproof plan anyway. You already got her under the moonlight! 'Destined to be together until death...' or something like that" Marco felt a little hurt by his own statement.

"That's what I'm worried about. What if that didn't work for some reason?"

"It's basic relationship stuff. You always have your ups and downs, you just need to put your trust in each other and ride it out." Marco knew the type of person Tom was, if he suspected something he would go through any means to find out the truth unless he was convinced diplomatically.

"Still, I got her under that moon! Marco, you need to help me find out what's happening! You in?"

"Eh…" Marco hesitated then realized he could sabotage Tom's investigation "Sure." He said nonchalantly.

"Great! We should start with her room!" Tom flicked his wrist and got them teleported both of them into Star's room.

"Woah!" Marco stumbled around in the room, getting a sense of the new environment "You gotta warn me if you're gonna-"

Tom wasn't listening. He was deep in Star's personal stuff, thoroughly overturning each and every drawer, box, and anything in between.

"Cmon, I know it's in here, show me the evidence…"

"Yo… aren't you taking this a little too far?" no response from Tom "Hey, what if Star comes back? You're overturning alot of-"

"Star!" Tom said "Of course, you genius! We hide until Star gets here, then take her by surprise!"

"Wait no that's not what I-" Too late. Marco was already stuffed in the wardrobe, while Tom stuffed himself under the bed.

"Marco, you are a mastermind. All we have to do is wait here and jump Star!"

"What do you mean _we?_" Marco said "I'm not gonna spend hours on end in this wardrobe!"

"Oh, you aren't? What a _shame._" Marco could tell by Tom's voice that he wasn't gonna let him go.

And so he waited. Quietly, so that no one would hear them of course. It was just Marco, the cramped wood walls, and a desire for Star to come in. Marco closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but his own thoughts kept him up.

When Star assigned him to actually participate in the war, every other commander dismissed him. Didn't even assign him people to command for the first day, and when they did they gave him one platoon that was previously part of a larger battalion. He knew he was a bit inexperienced, but he got a full education from the most senior guy there!

Marco ruminated on this for a while, then he knew what he had to do. He would have to prove himself to them. He needed to go the extra mile. Well, maybe not the extra _mile,_ going all out and leading in person or something, but maybe the extra 500 feet.

Marco did eventually drift off, despite the uncomfortable box he was in. Once he woke up, he knew something was going on. He felt a presence in the room. Star's presence. Shortly after, he heard some magical sparkles.

Marco opened the wardrobe. He saw sparkling dust settling on the floor, and an unconscious Star on the ground.

"Marco, help me tie her up." Tom grabbed Star by the shoulders and attempted to drag her onto a chair.

"Tie her up?" Marco said, "You're _definitely _taking this too far now. What are you even gonna do to her? Interrogate her?"

"Yes, and?"

"Wait, you're serious?" Marco said after realizing Tom was serious "Ok, I can't help anymore. Exposing her as a cheater is one thing, tying her up and demanding answers is another thing."

"Fine, just help me out after I tie her up." Tom had her on the chair and started to wrap magical bindings on Star.

Marco bit his lip. He couldn't stand idly by, he had to help her out. Doing nothing would be as bad as actively betraying her. And he would never betray her. Marco breathed in, and breathed out.

He whispered to himself, "_The space under the ear and over the jaw, the space under the ear and over the jaw…_" Marco got himself into position, and did a flying roundhouse on that spot on Tom. Tom immediately stumbled over with a grunt, and went limp.

Marco got Star off the chair and got Tom on it. He tied him with the same bindings Tom planned for Star.

Tom didn't see it coming, but when it did come he knew what happened. Marco was a prime suspect when Tom was thinking about who Star cheated with. But he trusted Marco, so instead of immediately striking he went out of his way to look for evidence.

He brought Marco along to see if he was anxious. To see if Marco acted cool if he was caught in a crime. Now Tom knew, he was right all along. He would not spare a second the next time he got a chance to exact revenge.

"Ughh…" The first thing Tom felt was the magical bindings on him. He could not teleport away or cast magic, he was tied up. The next thing he felt was the hard wood of the chair he was in. When he realized, his head immediately shot up. And his head was full of rage.

"IKNEWITFROMTHESTARTISHOULD'VEATTACKEDIMMEDIATLEYBUTPUTYTRUSTINYOUYOUWERE-"

"Chill! Chill!" Star said.

"-ICONSIDEREDYOUAFREINDUNTILIREALIZEDSTARWASCHEATINGONME"

"Hey, you really think I would have a chance with Star? Come on, you hit a massive score!"

Tom struggled in his chair and relaxed ever so slightly. This was when Star and Marco could see tears in his eyes.

"You… I fucking hate you…"

"Hey, please don't swear." Marco said.

"Tom," Star knelt down and got on Tom's level and put a hand on his shoulder "I did not cheat on you."

Tom knew she lied. Maybe it was that the hand was cold on his shoulder, maybe it was that her face had the same demeanor when she was clearly lying, but he knew.

And that did not put him into anger, it put him into depression.

He hoped, he prayed, that he was wrong. But he was too insightful, he was too-

_No_, he thought. As a last ditch effort to prove himself wrong, he hatched one last hail Mary plan.

"Kiss"

"What?!" Marco and Star said in unison after a moment of silence.

"Kiss each other, on the lips, right here, right now. Or else I still won't be happy."

"Hey, I really can't do that…" Marco said.

"Please, just do it." Tom had tears running down his face. Then he whispered, "_I still have hope,_" to himself, but Marco heard.

"C'mon, just a peck." Marco stage whispered "It'll make him happy." He said audibly.

Star just stood there, concerned look on her face.

"Oh fine." Marco gave Star a dry kiss on the cheek "There, you happy?" Marco wiped his mouth.

Tom sat, relieved. He knows it could have been faked, but he pushed that to the back of his mind and ignored it. What was important was that if he had really been cheating on him then they would have kissed deeply.

"Ok, now have you calmed down-" Marco got pushed by Star to face her "Hey what are you-"

"Stop acting." Star pulled him by his collar and kissed him. A real kiss this time, and Tom saw it all unfold.

First was Marco's shock, then realization, then desperation as he tried to pull himself from Star. He was successful, then looked at Tom in silence.

Star moved in front of Tom and said "I'm tired of lying."


	27. Marco can make one mean taco

Ch 25: Marco gets motion sickness.

**AN: So apparently a previous version of Chapter 25 was incoherent gibberish so this is a changed version. Hopefully not so jumbled because I have no way to know if other people can understand what i'm saying until I post it.**

"Not a surprise." Tom mumbled "I shouldn't have lied to myself."

"Tom, you're right. I am cheating on you." Star said surprisingly softly "I don't know how, or if, you'll ever forgive me."

"Forgive you? I-" Tom was split in two. On one hand, he had been cheated on. On the other hand, how hard had he worked before that? When Star was his ex, he did all that he could to get her back. And now to throw that all away?

A familiar feeling came to him: rage. It was not her fault, it was Marco's fault. And he would pay.

"Star, I… I think I can forgive you. Just untie me please." Tom apologized, holding in his anger.

"Oh, of course." Star untied Tom, and he immediately looked around the room to see where he should strike. But Marco was long gone.

"Where's Marco?"

"Oh, he's right here- wait no he's not." Star was as surprised as Tom was.

"Damn it! He ran away!" Tom teleported himself out of the room and into various places in the castle. In an attempt to find Marco he teleported to the throne room, halls, and the puppy farm. Eventually, he did find him. Marco was running through the halls of the castle.

"MARCO!" Tom used his magic to make bindings appear on Marco's hands and ankles, making him fall over.

"Come on man, can't we talk this out?"

"I'll make you pay, i'll make you fucking _pay_"

"Hey now, no need to swear. Don't want to lose control of yourself- OH MY GOODNESS." Marco was shocked as he was teleported to Tom's domain. More specifically, Tom's spinning dartboard which had cuffs on it so people could be attached to it.

"I bet you're really regretting everything now. You and your stupid eye-patch." Tom spat as he made the board spin.

"Come on, I get sick easily with motion based things. You really don't want me throwing up on your... beautiful torture devices!" Marco said as he slowly span on the circular board.

"What did she even see in you… all you did was get yourself famous by preaching like a mad man. Your fame is all built on a fucking joke!" Tom took a few steps back and picked up a rock. He threw it at Marco and missed.

"Again with the swearing, you really should stop. Maybe you can aim better if you concentrate."

"What is it with you and swearing?"

Marco sighed. "I don't want to get into it right now."

"Oh, but you _will_ get into it." Tom shot a magical shot towards Marco. He barely missed, a small bout of fire appearing and disappearing.

"Woah! Alright! Jeez." Marco felt his side warm up a bit and cool down as the fire died. "It's… It's because of my parents. They don't, or should I say didn't, like it when I swore. Since I know they are- I can't say it…" His lip began to tremble, and it wasn't from needing to throw up.

"You want another fire bolt or do you want to speak up?"

"IT'S BECAUSE MY PARENTS FUCKING DIED OK? THEY- they... they didn't like it when I swore. I know they're looking down on me from heaven, and I don't want to make them sad." Marco had tears start forming from his eyes. He blinked them away.

Tom paused and looked at Marco. He walked up to him and made him spin faster.

"Again, what did she see in you?"

"That was a question? I really can't… think so straight while spinning so fast…"

"Then you'll tell the truth. What did she see in you?" Tom said.

"I… I think it was something about experiencing this thing together… we were both stranded and… ugh…"

"Come on, you can talk!"

"I really… can't I… feel… ugh…" Marco vomited while still spinning. Tom quickly ran and stopped the spinning.

"You got my spinning dart board dirty!" Tom hissed, backhanding Marco.

"Ugh… just let me talk OK?"

"Fine." Tom said, stepping back from the vomit of Marco's hoodie.

"We were both stranded on the Atlantic sea. We would've both drowned if we weren't helped. And even then my eye had to be removed just so I could live. Being helpless together, I guess that bonds people."

"So by some CHANCE of you meeting her, you did what I couldn't without magic." Tom glowered.

"Tom, let me be honest with you, you're way too aggressive." Marco said, stalling for time. "I don't know how you demon people do it, but Mewnians are really similar to Humans. Mewnians and Humans, they don't take kindly to taking what you want by force."

"You aren't in a position to give me _advice._"

"Well, how long do you think it'll be until Star puts two and two together and teleports right here?"

"Good point. I should get back to torturing you. Hey look, a rat!" Tom picked up a three eyed rat and threw it at Marco.

"Is this really all you can think of? I could think of countless ways to torture myself!"

"Wha- no! No you can't, I'm way better than you!" Tom said with an expression of anger and embarrassment.

"_I _am way better than you!"

"Am not!" Tom said.

"Am too!" Marco said.

"Am not!" Tom said.

"Am not!" Marco said.

"Am too! Wait-" Tom said "Dang it!"

"Ha! Now, as punishment for losing you have to untie me."

"You really think I'm that dumb?" Tom threw another rock at him.

"Still can't think of anything? I really am better than you!"

"Really? You're trapped here, tied up and helpless! You really think you're better than me? Tell me why you think that!"

"Uh… Oh, I know!" Marco said, "I make a mean Taco!"

"Is… is that it?"

"Of course not, dummy! I also… uh… am really good at… eating?"

"What." Tom said.

"What do you mean '_what'? _Eating is one of the most difficult things in the world! I have to prepare for months before I eat!"

"I thought people ate like… everyday. I certainly do..."

"Oh now you come in here and brag about eating everyday. You know how blatantly obvious of a lie that is?"

"Eating is literally one of the only ways the body can get energy- wait, are you just stalling for ti-" Tom heard a portal opening behind him.

"Tom! Stop!" Star stepped through the portal "Please, don't do anything else!"

"He hardly did anything." Marco said while laughing.

"Star, just let me handle this." Tom insisted, "Just go back and everything will be fine. He won't even get any permanent wounds, I assure you!"

"No, I don't care about anything physical!" Star jabbed, "He's been through this before! I saw it happen right in front of me! Do you ever _think_ that you're damaging people even after they leave your capture?" Star grabbed Tom's shoulders.

"What do you mean?"

"Marco told me stories of his old self, and his old self is _not_ who he is now. Something changed on that ship…"

"What ship?"

"_The Bismarck_" Marco sighed, remembering what had happened on that ship.

"Yeah, that. He was taken into custody by these people, and he was interrogated. Interrogated _hard_. They beat him into confessing something. And he… he _changed _there. I don't know what he was like before, but his stories contrast too much with himself."

"So what?" Tom dismissively said.

"Don't you see it? You're hurting him mentally! It's too much like _Bismarck!_ I'm worried he's gonna go insane or something! You have to stop, you're gonna destroy him!" Star pleaded.

Star and Tom locked eyes, then Tom said, "Fine. I won't hurt him anymore. But you have to promise to break up with him."

"Oh thank you thank you! Can you release him now?" Star said, hugging Tom.

"Yeah, yeah I can do that." Tom said, putting his arms around Star too.

After what felt like an entire minute to Tom, they released. Tom walked towards Marco and removed him from the dartboard.

"Ha! Barely any scratches! I've had breakfasts more dangerous than that!" Marco Teased.

"Just get him out of my dimension, Star." Tom said, waving his hands as to dismiss them.

"You OK, Marco?" Star urged.

"Tom probably lost more energy than I did in torturing me. I didn't even need to move! Hahaha-" Marco laughed so hard Star had to support him from falling as they walked through the portal.

"Hahahah-" The portal led to just outside the castle. Marco sat down on the grass.

"You need anything?" Star asked.

"Hahaha…" Marco's laughing slowed to sporadic giggles, then to a smile, then to a frown. "Uhm… just… sit with me please. I want some company." He wiped the corners of his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket which revealed that his eyes were capable of holding back waterfalls of tears.

"Are you sure you're OK?"

Marco took a deep breath of the fresh outside air. "I... don't really know."


	28. Blood Moon is sort of messed up

**AN: I feel like this is gonna be indecipherable gibberish like the previous version of Chapter 25 so can yall tell me if you can comprehend this chapter? **

Ch 26: Lunch on the balcony.

"So…" Marco drummed his fingers on the table "I take it that she invited you… also."

Tom ignored him and overlooked the landscape. They were on Star's bedroom balcony, which had three chairs. Two of which were occupied by Tom and Marco.

"Uh… nice weather we're having?" Marco asked for the third time. Still no response.

Marco looked down at his bag and at the sandwiches he brought. He was invited by Star to have lunch with her on her balcony, but she wasn't here.

"Do you think she's actually gonna come here or did she prank us?" Tom didn't talk back or even turn his head to face him, but he had a look of slight concern on his for a second. Then it turned back into neutral 'i'm ignoring you' face.

Marco looked around to try and find something to talk about. But no luck, he even looked up at the overhead roof.

"Come on, what do demons like to talk about? Death? Destruction?" Marco questioned. Tom looked like he was about to say something, but he still gave him the silent treatment.

Marco found his way in.

"How about we talk about our dimensions? I'll start. It's called Earth, and there's a lot of green plants and water. Sorta like Mewni but without Magic." Marco looked for a reaction. As he suspected, nothing.

"How about history? Lots of death, famine, disease, come on!" Tom seemed unfazed. "Uhm, have you heard of the war to end all wars?" Tom didn't turn to face him, but he looked at Marco sideways.

"Go on." Tom said dismissively.

"Oh, it was a war between every super power on Earth. Someone from almost every continent took part. And it changed warfare forever." Marco said.

Tom looked at him weirdly "What do you mean changed warfare?"

"New technologies created… lots of destruction and suffering!" Tom turned his head towards Marco slowly.

"Uh… It was basically touture even if you weren't fighting! You would have to dig a trench and hide in it to prepare for an advance. Normally this would be fine except that everyone else was doing it."

"And why would that be a problem?"

"Trenches could repel most offensives, so you would have to sacrifice thousands of lives for-"

"Hey guys!" Star was hanging off the balcony "A little help here?"

"Star?" Tom and Marco said in unison.

"Why are you hanging off the balcony?" Marco said.

"Just help me get up! You wouldn't want me to fall down would you?"

As Marco got up from his chair, Tom was already pulling Star up.

"Thanks for helping me up guys!" Star sat down with them.

"Yes, 'guys', plural…" Tom said.

Marco cleared his throat "Star, why are there three of us here?"

"Oh, I thought it would be good for you two to make up and be friends."

"So you tricked us into meeting?" Tom said.

"That's not important." Star dismissed Tom "What is important is that you two should make up so that there isn't too much tension between you two."

"And we all know how forgiving Tom is." Marco giggled.

Star got some cards out of her pocket and put them at the center of the table. "One of you take a card from the center and look at it. Whatever's written on there you have to talk about it!"

"Sounds good. Tom?" Marco looked at Tom.

"I don't want to do it." Tom faced Star.

"Come on Tom, stop being so fussy." Marco said.

"I still don't want to do it."

"Tom," Star put her hand on Tom's shoulder "I'm not doing this for Marco, or even me. I'm doing this for you."

He put his hand over her's. He sighed and closed his eyes, and when he opened them he looked in Star's eyes. Then Tom knew, she wasn't lying. He tightened his grip.

"Alright, fine." Tom let go and picked out a card "'Something you're grateful for.' That doesn't seem too hard." Tom looked at Marco. "I'm grateful that my girlfriend broke up with you." Tom said in an almost tease.

"That's not really friendly…" Star whispered. Marco looked quite offended because of that. Then he smiled.

"I'm grateful that I could be so caught up in this drama, you know? Sometimes we're so caught up in the little things that we don't have time to really appreciate what we have." Marco tapped his eyepatch twice and laughed.

"Weird but ok..." Tom trailed off. "Now you take a card."

Marco took a card and read it aloud "'Something you've noticed in some people.' Vague but Alright." Marco looked out to the view of the balcony to think of something. He could see the city of Mewni from there. He was too busy looking at the city to notice the amount of time that passed.

"I guess I'll start." Tom said. "How people in the castle are sort of more patriotic now. Like, before the war everyone in the castle was moderately patriotic. Now everyone is rooting for Mewni like it's a wrestler. Except that Blossom family. They're really anti-war."

"Very insightful Tom! Now Marco, what about you?" Star encouraged.

Marco was still looking at the city when he spoke. "Everyone down in the city,

They've radiated this sort of depressed energy. A few months into the war, almost everyone was like that. Still is. It's sort of seeping into me." Everyone took a moment to look at the city.

Smoke stacks gave it a constant grey overcast that only seemed to appear a few months into the war. That's no coincidence, the factories kicked into high gear producing swords during the war.

"The city certainly looks that way."


	29. tbh this really shouldve been in ch 26

Ch 27: Really should have put this at the end of the previous chapter but oh well.

The entire meeting was a passive aggressive mess. Card after card they somehow attacked the other.

"What's your favorite color?" was a question.

"Red. It's so vibrant, I even have forty red hoodies!" Marco would say.

"Oh really? It's a bit disturbing you know, the same color as… blood…"

Another card said "What's your favorite thing to drink?"

"Oh, water I guess." Tom said.

"Wow, real bland of you." Marco said.

The whole ordeal was not too much of a failure though. Sometimes they actually talked, but they would be at each other's throats eventually.

"I think it would be best if we ended this now." Star shot a laser at the stack of cards.

"Me too. You and I agree on a lot of things, don't we?" Tom stood from his chair.

"Hey, you disagreed on who to date, but I guess that's all behind us now." Marco stood up and offered to shake Tom's hand.

"Pleasure talking to you." Tom didn't take the offer.

Marco lowered his hand and turned to Star would be, but she was already halfway into a portal.

"Pleasure talking to you too." Marco said. Tom cut open a portal and left.


	30. MEWNI CITZEN HAS COMMITED TAX FRAUD

Ch 28: Cute animals in this chapter! Yippie!

"I'm not exactly a professional at the job."

"You're the best we've got, Diaz. Besides, you're not gonna be the one doing the dirty work. You're just gonna be there to supervise them." The general spoke.

Marco looked at the small police force. They had a sword each, and uniforms that distinguished them as police officers.

"Fine." Marco said "What are we even gonna do?"

"They're gonna lead the way to a farm. Once there, you have to tell them to kill some livestock. That house has been dipping and dodging on their taxes."

Marco sighed. This wasn't exactly avenging his parents and getting revenge at those Nazis, but at least it was something.

"Fine." Marco turned to the police "Let's form up boys! Straight line, come on!" The police followed their orders. "Do you all know where today's mission is?"

"Yes sir!" They shouted in unison.

Marco felt confidence throughout his body. He may be younger than them, but rank was the determining factor here.

"Bye. Be safe, kid!" Ok, maybe not for everyone.

They marched in an un-orderly fashion. They were only policemen, not trained soldiers. But they made their way to the outskirts of Mewni, and stopped at a farmhouse.

There were pigs out in the front, and they were the jolliest little pigs that ever lived. They rolled around in mud, their face shape made it look like they were smiling. Marco smiled too, until he recalled what had to be done.

Marco bit his lips in hesitation, but it was a direct order. He knew it had to be done.

"Attack those pigs!" His voice broke as he shouted.

At once, they unsheathed their swords. They knocked down the fence that separated them, and tackled the pigs. Marco closed his eyes, and he heard squeals. Yet, they didn't stop. One by one, he forced himself to look.

The pigs were pinned down, but not dead. One of the police officers turned his gaze from the pig to Marco.

"Waiting for your say, sir."

Marco walked with weak legs and crouched to one of the pigs. It was trying it's best to break free, but it had two men holding it down. Marco looked at the pig's head and, although they were different species, he saw an emotion. A primal emotion he saw so much and recognized instantly: Fear.

"Sir," One of the police officers said as he positioned his sword above the pig's neck.

It was unsettling that he and the pig could be so similar. Marco looked at the other pigs. They were scared too. Pinned down, with nothing to do but accept their fate. But they didn't. They struggled, never giving up on life.

He decided that _that_ is what separates them from him. _They_ would fight to the last breath. _He_ would have the mental capacity to realize there was nothing he could do. Marco stood up and shouted "Kill the pigs!"

The swords were raised and plunged into the necks of the swine. Blood began to splatter onto the blades. As the swords were pulled back, the pigs twitched, and then they went limp.

Marco felt vomit coming up in his throat, but he fought it down. Although he knew they were just animals, he still felt horrible. Like he violated a sacred law of nature.


	31. Marco gets some advice

Ch 29: Let's try that again.

**AN: You know how I changed the tags from romance to angst? That only really comes later in the story so...**

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Star said as she pushed Tom along.

"Ugh, fine." Tom crossed his arms as they approached the carriage. Star worked hard to push him towards it.

"Alrighty!" Star walked up to the carriage door and knocked on it. "Hey Marco! Open up!"

"There isn't even a lock in here- oh you did it again, did you?" Marco opened the door from inside. "You can't do this now! This is, like, serious military stuff!"

"They never really give you serious stuff to do. Now let's go!" Tom impatiently shouted over Star's shoulder.

Star stepped up on the carriage but before she could go in, Marco blocked her using his arm.

"Star, the camp I'm going to could get attacked. I can't let civilians in, let alone you." Marco started to push her away.

"Marco," Star whispered as she grabbed his arm "come on." She had her serious face on. Marco looked at her hand on his arm, and then to Star's eyes.

"Fine." Marco suddenly grabbed Star's arm, "You're riding in the middle." He pulled her inside and kept her from falling on his lap because of the momentum of the pull.

"This is gonna be a fun ride." Tom pulled himself up as Star brushed her hair from the front of her face.

"I think it would be better if Tom rode middle, actually-"

"Sir, was that the crown princess just then?!" The driver shouted from the outside.

"Yes, and don't question it. Military business." Marco said "Move!"

"Of course, sir." The carriage started to move.

"So, where are we going?" Tom asked.

"Military camp. Next offensive could win us the war. Or start negotiations at least. It's an oil warehouse. We can pay the Nazis and hopefully never have to talk to them again. Miles, sorry, _Mii-less_ is really battered, so we're betting on negotiations."

"What?" Star asked, not understanding that combination of words.

"What is it with you and the Nazi's? They seem nice enough. Do you just hate them for no reason?" Tom said.

"I have reasons!" Marco quickly said.

"Well, why don't you tell them to us?"

"It's not- it's complicated but- hey you just want me to look bad in front of Star!"

"What?" Star said.

"Well you clearly haven't nullified your feelings! You think i'm blind?" Tom leaned closer to Marco.

"Relationships are not an on and off switch, my friend. Be grateful I'm actually trying."

"Guys, guys!" Star pushed them away from each other "how about we admire the scenery? Look outside!"

They had already entered the portal and were in the other dimension. There was forest all around the road, lush greenery formed a natural garden. Ahead, there was a road checkpoint with two guards.

"Why didn't we just use the scissors and immediately have a portal go to the camp?" Tom questioned.

"Something about interdimensional law." Marco said dismissively as the carriage approached the checkpoint. They passed it without any pause, it only checked things going in, not out.

Marco heard some whispering between Star and Tom. Then Tom said "So, uh, how's work?"

"They send me out to do their chores. It's like i'm not even part of the military, it's more like i'm some police chief." Marco recalled. "Sent me to go out and kill some pigs, they did it a bunch of times. First time felt bad, but I got used to it."

"You know you don't have to take orders from them?" Star said.

"I know, I know. They just don't take me seriously. Trying to suck up to them."

Star and Tom whispered again, this time he could faintly hear them.

"Do I really have to do this?" Tom whispered.

"Yes. Now do it." Star commanded.

"Marco," Tom raised his voice to normal talking, "You should stop sucking up to them. Only makes you look like you don't know what to do, and you need others to command you."

"Huh. Well, thanks I guess." Marco said.

"See? Things can get along with you two!" Star hugged them both at the same time.


	32. Free-form poetry is just short stories

Ch 30: The pen is mightier than the sword, except on the battlefield.

Joshua clutched his shortsword, his hand shaking from the utter shock that is the battlefield. Explosions rocked his entire perception, explosion after explosion came as he cowered behind a tree stump. Sitting in a fetal position, whimpering, he saw droves of soldiers charge forward into _Bellumnum _fire.

His incoherence was so great that he didn't notice the soldier next to him grabbing his shoulders and yelling, "DAMN IT JOSH CHARGE YOU FUCKING NERD!" As Joshua was pulled out of cover.

"W- in- ho-"

"JOSH DO YOU WANT TO DIE COWERING OR DIE LIKE A HERO BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GONNA HAVE BETTER CHANCES STANDING STILL!" Joshua could barely hear him.

"T- that's not t- tru-"

"JOSH I WILL _PERSONALLY _KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR ASS MOVING!" The soldier pushed Joshua forward. The momentum turned it into a run.

He ran into the explosions, the bangs of the battle. He heard rumors that there would be little military resistance at the transport town.

_I'M A POET! I WASN'T MADE FOR THIS! NOBODY'S MADE FOR THIS! WHY THE HELL ARE WE ALL CHARGING?! WE COULD ALL JUST RUN! WE ALL WANT TO GO HOME! _Joshua felt that he needed to yell his own thoughts in his head.

He charged through the main road of the town, following the crowd. Or what's left of it anyway. Even if explosions didn't hit him, the dust did. The dust stung his eyes and skin, adding to the fact that he could barely breathe with the dust in the air.

This was when he finally saw his enemy: Men and women alike, casting explosions onto the street from their windows. Civilians. And he was ordered to clear them out.

No matter, civilian incapacitation called for capture. That was the only coherent thought he had as he picked up a mace from a dead body on the street. He dropped the sword as a building collapsed onto the crowd of his comrades.

He picked a building, it looked like a general store, and slammed the door open. He saw two people, a woman and a little girl, cowering behind the counter. Faces disheveled, hair messy and sticking to their face.

"BOTH OF YOU! OUT! NOW!" He gestured to the door with his mace. They seemed to get the message, although they probably didn't know his language. He followed them out and made sure they were captured.

He kept on charging after that. Taking a few breaks and capturing some more harmless civilians. He never killed anyone that day, didn't have the need to. And he could never bring himself to charge into the buildings with the resisting civilians.

He started in the morning, but it was in the afternoon when he got injured. An explosion went off next to him, knocking him on his side and leaving him bleeding. Joshua picked himself back up and looked at the various holes and red spots on his uniform. He limped back, running into medics and getting carried by a stretcher.

Finally, on that stretcher, he felt that he could think again. He could think like his poet self. He thought about the battle. And he thought about himself and his thoughts during that battle.

He reached into his uniform and pulled out a blood stained journal. He opened to the page which had the pencil as a bookmark, and wrote:

_Losing friends to artillery shells,_

_At the break of dawn._

_Break their will as yours has been broken, we're here alone._

_Dream of home._


	33. Marco fucking kills someone

Ch 31: Feel no remorse for animals.

As the carriage came to a halt, Marco opened the door and jumped out onto the pavement. Followed by Star then Tom.

Straightening his uniform, Marco asked "How do I look?"

"You look great!" Star said "Tom, what do you think?"

"You look like how you normally do."

"Er, is that bad or… you know what nevermind." Marco looked around.

The street had multiple crates in the open that served as tables. Most people were drinking and playing cards, probably celebrating the recently won battle. There were some horses tied to hitching rails. One person, probably a field commander, approached them.

"Field Commander Andrew Murphy sir!" Murphy saluted them.

"Yes, yes, formalities and all that. How did the battle go?" Marco said as he followed him to the warehouse.

"There was barely any opposing military force here. Although there was heavy civilian resistance. They've been incapacitated though, sir. Captured or otherwise."

"Good, good. Did you take the warehouse?"

"Erm, that's a different matter. Civilians within it are threatening to burn the place down." As they walked, Marco thought about what he could do about this.

_Maybe I could bribe them? Or maybe surround the place and block off all exits? No they probably already did that. Maybe I could-_

"Marco! We're here!" Tom snapped Marco out of his thoughts.

"Oh, thanks." Marco looked at the warehouse. It had two stories, the second had a balcony and the bottom had a garage barricaded by two trucks.

"IF YOU COME ANY CLOSER SAY BYE BYE TO THE OIL!" Someone from the balcony shouted with an accent Marco couldn't pinpoint.

"YOU DO REALIZE YOU'LL DIE AS WELL? WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!" Someone from the ground shouted.

"WE WOULD GLADLY DO IT TO SPITE YOU!"

"Do you have any ideas to get them to come down?" Field Commander Murphy said.

Marco noticed the cages near them. Civilians were locked in there. "HEY! IF YOU COME DOWN WE'LL SET THE CIVILIANS FREE!"

A few moments passed. It then turned to minutes. Then the man on the balcony said "THE MILITARY'S GONNA LIBERATE THEM ANYWAY! NO!"

Marco pointed to one of the prisoners "Unlock it."

"Marco, where are you going with this?" Star asked.

Marco ignored her. One of the soldiers held the prisoner by the tied hands as he walked out of the cage.

"MILITARY CAN'T SAVE THE DEAD!" Marco shouted "KEEP RESISTING AND THIS ONE DIES!"

"YOU'RE BLUFFING!" The warehouse resistor shouted. And he was right, Marco was bluffing.

"NO I'M NOT-" The prisoner suddenly got free and procured a knife from his sleeve. He stabbed the soldier holding him in the neck.

"What the-" The prisoner faced to stab another. Everyone was already drawing their swords. "WAIT! DON'T KILL HIM! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Almost everyone didn't hear him except two people. They managed to tackle the prisoner before anyone else got to him.

The prisoner was restrained once again, shank confiscated.

Marco walked to the stabbed soldier and knelt down to get a close look. He never knew him, but he still felt a connection. Was it pity because he was dead? Guilt that he chose the rebellious prisoner? Maybe it's that in the dead man's eyes, he could still see some thoughts. This made him not a stranger, but a real, conscious person in Marco's perception of him.

"He's dead…" Marco stood up and walked to the prisoner.

"What should we do with him, sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

Marco made a slashing gesture on his neck.

"Sir, it's still a civilian I don't think-"

"Knock him down to his knees." Marco commanded.

The soldier hesitated. Then he pushed him down. The prisoner laughed.

"We will never stop fighting, you know?" The prisoner said "I think this battle shows that."

"Wild animals will never stop fighting as well."

The prisoner smiled. And he started to sing in a forgeign language.

"That's their anthem, sir." A soldier informed Marco.

"What a way to go." Marco said. "Do it now."

The soldier raised his sword and struck the prisoner in the neck. Marco felt no remorse for the killer.

"YOU WANT MORE? MORE DEATH? YOU CAUSED TWO DEATHS! THAT SOLDIER WAS A PERSON TOO!"

"WE SURRENDER YOU WEREN'T BLUFFING!"

After a few minutes, a team of civilians walked out of the warehouse with their hands up.


	34. Star vs Star

**AN: For some reason I thought Star was actually the queen in charge of stuff even though her mom was. Oh well i'll fix it later.**

Ch 32: The Alliance of the Star (In no way related to Star Butterfly)

"Magno Joliet, your turn." The Alliance leader, King Flanders, gave the talking stick to Magno Joliet. Joliet was the leader, or 'Magno', of the realm of Miles.

"Thank you, King." The Magno cleared his throat "As you all may know, Miles has been in a war with Mewni for about a year. I know that it is not very respectful to do this now after rejecting everything for so long, but we need assistance."

Beleci Sven Haya planted his fist on the table "We have given you plenty of opportunities to-"

"You do not have the talking stick, Beleci Haya."

"Thank you, king." Joliet said "Ok, everyone, I am sorry for rejecting your offers. I simply didn't want others to bear the burden of a war. But now, I am desperate. They seem to be targeting oil and fuel, and my transport service is on it's death throes. If that collapses, it's only a matter of time before Miles does." The mention of his realm's collapse was strategic. Everyone of 'The Alliance of the Star' (Named so for having 5 members) depended on Miles for funds.

"Permission to take the talking stick." Public relations chief Jansen Guddens asked.

"Permission granted." Joliet handed the stick to Guddens

"Thank you. I just want to say, this would be the first war the alliance as a whole would be fighting. Nothing like this would be precedent. Even though Mewni has signed the Wartime Decency Documents, it's only a matter of time before Mewni realizes it can't take 5 dimensions and is pushed to breaking the documents and committing war crimes."

There was a silence at the table. Not because they were contemplating the decision, but because they would for sure win. They would win the biggest conflict in history. And the opposing side was gonna commit war crimes anyway, so they would be seen as the good guys.

"Are we to go through with this?" Guddens spoke up. Everyone slowly nodded.


	35. Marco is a responsible promise keeper

Ch 33: Memories so similar to now

Marco sat at the edge of the carriage seat, staring into nothing in particular.

Star found him and asked him, "Hey, have you seen Tom?"

Marco completely ignored the question and instead asked, "Do you think the death of that citizen was justified?"

"Well, erm, he did kill someone."

"The only reason I put him to death was because at the time, I wanted revenge for the soldier." Marco put his hands to his face "But now that I think about it the guy I killed probably was just like you and me."

"Er…" Star didn't know how to respond.

"But by killing him, I got the oil out safe. If the oil had been destroyed, there would have been so much more bloodshed."

"Yeah! That! You saved so much more people by doing that!"

"But still. In the moment I saw nothing but savagery in that man. But the more I think about him afterwards…" Marco put his hands down and looked at Star "But was I just gonna let that soldier die for nothing? Let everyone who died in the battle die for nothing?"

"Marco," Star sat next to him and patted his back "Always remember, whatever you're feeling, you can know I'm right next to you."

"It… it feels like I'm becoming an officer on the Battleship where we met. Like I'm..." His voice trailed off.

"Oh don't say that." Star got Marco in a hug "I know you, and you would never be like that."

Marco savoured the hug for a few moments. Then he said "Thank you, Star. Oh, and I also have something I want to talk about."

"What is it?" Star let go.

"Tom was right. I still do have feelings for you, but by god I made a promise." Marco got off the carriage "I'm gonna stay out here while you and Tom go back to Mewni."

"Oh come on! I was hoping I could get out of that darn city for once!"

"Star, it's for your own good. You're much safer in there than out here. You're not even supposed to be out here" Marco gestured to her to go inside of the carriage.

"You sound like my parents."

"Hey, at least your dad can take you out monster hunting or something." Marco said "And again, thank you for being here for me. But I need you to go back so I won't think of you for a while. It'll save us a lot of trouble with Tom."

"You're welcome, Marco." Star said.

"I'll go find Tom and bring him here."


	36. Marco does his job

Ch 34: Not even a week

Day one:

"How did I not even know about this?" Marco looked at the mirror "Can I try it?"

"I don't see why not." Field Commander Murphy said "Try calling one of the other regiments."

"Mirror, call the 16th infantry."

Calling 16th infantry…

"Sir!" The image of a soldier saluted Marco in the mirror.

"This is great!"

Day two:

The mirror that Marco's force had was ringing for everyone. Everyone gathered around the mirror, and Marco had the privilege of being at the front.

"What is it, mirror?" Someone from the crowd yelled to the mirror.

"To All of Mewni and to whomever it may concern, the Alliance of the Star has agreed to support Miles in this war. Let it be known that Mewni is now at war with: Miles, The Monarchy of Flanders, The Monarchy of Haya, Vesta-corp, and the Powiz Union. You are outnumbered 5 to 1." The other side hung up.

The crowd went into a sort of murmured frenzy. Then some of them started looking at Marco. Then alot of them started looking at Marco. He didn't know what they wanted, until one of them spoke up.

"Are we gonna be ok sir?"

Marco looked at the soldiers. He never was good at public speaking, but now he needed to improvise.

"Look, I know it may not be the best of times. And, I know that it looks like we're fighting a losing battle. But tell me, how long has Mewni existed? How long has it stood? I'll tell you this, it has stood for a long time. And if it falls to some measly alliance, then that will be the day I charge into a hail of bullets."

A silence ensued. Then one asked Marco, "What are bullets?"

"None of your concern."

Day three:

"The deal went through?"

"Yes, Mewni is not indebted to Germany." FC Murphy was telling Marco about the happenings in Mewni.

"Good. I don't want people to be talking to them." Marco said with a distaste.

"Oh, and as a gift they sent us some armaments. Feldkanone Ninety Sixes, they called them. I have a picture actually." FC Murphy took out a picture from his back pocket and showed it to Marco.

It was an artillery piece on wheels, it was a bit shorter than the person in the picture who was pushing the wheels.

"Looks like it's from World war one. How many did they send?"

"About five thousand. We got a few ourselves that are being sent here. They even sent something called a Karabiner Ninety Eights, but there isn't any coming to us."

Day four:

When the Feldkanones arrived, Marco ordered the camp to move to the Flanders dimension. They did, and as the camp marched to a position atop a hill Marco took in the view.

All around them was a green field as far as the eye could see with the occasional flower. Marco got close enough to one of these flowers that he could identify it.

It was a poppy. He kept it.

Day five:

"Sir! There's something you should see!" A soldier stuck his head in Marco's tent.

"What is it?"

"It's the mirror! There's an emergency broadcast from Mewni! That only happens when something really bad happens!"

"Well alright, i'm coming." Marco followed the soldier to the mirror. As expected, there was a crowd around it. But Marco was let though and to the front.

"What is it, mirror?" Marco said.

The image of an injured soldier was on the mirror. Through clenched teeth, he spoke: "This is Royal guard John Greene, broadcasting from Mewni. We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack. They came through portals and attacked us from the inside. Isin't that a fucking warcrime?" The room the soldier was in shook and rumbled "Goddamned explosions. They're burning the place to the ground! We need reinforcements." The broadcast repeated.

There was silence, everyone looked at eachother, then at Marco.

Wait, is Star safe? He thought.

"Men, what are we to do? What choice do we have? Are we to wait out here, and let your homeland burn?"

"No!" Someone from the crowd shouted.

"Exactly. Now, someone open up a portal to the castle. I will- WE will defend it." Marco regretted sending Star back now.


	37. Marco talks like a real leader

Ch 35: The great city burns.

Marco sat straight on his horse, hands grasping the reins tightly. He was trained on how to ride a horse, but he was still nervous when he got on one. The horse clopped along the side of the marching infantry. Two lines of 19 men each, with two pushing the _Feldkanone_ in the front. That was how much the other generals trusted him with, out of thousands of men between them. 40 men.

The sudden attack made Marco suspicious. No army would carry out an all out attack like that within three days of mobilizing. Unless they were preparing for years, which was impossible since the war was only going on for one year, they could not mobilize that much fire and flame that fast. They're technology was comparable to medieval britain.

This all made Marco think it might not have been any of the Star alliance members, but maybe a third party. Perhaps a mercenary group, which would be a loophole in the Wartime Decency Documents. The employers could have signed the Documents and the Mercenaries not, thus making the employers innocent of any war crime. Thus Marco avoided going to the battle directly, but a few miles away in compliance with the Documents.

Marco would communicate with the other generals if he could, but they weren't answering the mirror. They were probably a victim of the attack too. He doesn't know how much backup he's getting, he doesn't know if he even is getting any backup, heck, he doesn't know where he's going to teleport to. He comes in a few miles away, but WHERE a few miles away?

No communication, no information, no idea what he's getting into. He doesn't know if other forces have already directly portaled into Mewni, and if this whole portaling a few miles away was useless.

Snapping back to reality, he wiped his forehead of sweat. Stress and fear churned from his sweating brow to his shaking legs. Yet he let the horse trot on, never missing a beat. Perfectly synchronized with the marching of the soldiers. He recognized the road they were marching on. It was the road He, Star, and Tom rode through to get to the camp.  
The checkpoint which had two guards now had only one. He took out some scissors.

"Portal opener Eli Cobbler, Sir!" He saluted Marco. The soldiers, so monotonous in their march, suddenly halted. The absence of the march gave an eerie silence.

"Open a portal, as close as you can get to Mewni according to the WDD." Marco said.

"Sir, there are multiple places I can put you. There's inside a building, in the streets, in a horse farm, in a factory-"

"The farm, PO Cobbler." Marco had an idea. Every soldier had basic horse training, and he needed to get to the castle fast.

"Of course, sir." The PO opened the portal.

"Alright, everyone! Into the portal!" Marco commanded. And as quickly as they stopped, they marched again. Each one of them walked into the portal. When half of them were through, Marco walked through himself.

What struck him first was the sight of it. It was night, normally Mewni would be bright. But it was neither dark nor light, but a red-orange hue that lit Mewni. It came from flame.

Next was the smell. Mewni was a few miles away, they were in the countryside far from the walls. But Marco could smell the smoke. Faint, yet it pierced the fresh air of the night.

Then, the sound. Or lack thereof. All Marco heard was the quiet murmurs of the men as they stared in awe. Mewni, the great city, so sanctified in their hearts. So long since it was touched by any harm. It was burning.

Then, they heard faint bangs and thunders from Mewni. Whatever magic their assailants were using, it was destructive.

Marco took the sight in, not speaking or thinking, just seeing. Seeing how the war had finally caught up with _him._ To him, the war might as well have been another chore or homework. All he did with the war was work on paper, or visit some people who were far away.

Now, it was real. The alliance, the way Marco moved his troops on a map, the statistics of death. It all converged on Marco's mind, and with this information, his mind spat out one thought:

_Everyone you know is in there. Star, Tom, Star's parents, the Blossom family, everyone. You might be the only one who can save them. _

He looked to all the soldiers. He could tell, they were thinking the same thing about their loved ones.

"My men!" Mode to the front of all of them. They snapped out of their thoughts and looked at Marco "Look at Mewni. How many people can you name that are in there right now? How many friends, and how many loved ones?" A few of the soldiers looked down, as if in sadness.

"I have a wife and son!" One of the soldiers called out.

"Oh god, my sister!" Another one said.

"I have a bowling buddy named Dale!" Another yelled.

"Think about where they might be now! They are hidden, somewhere in there. They are waiting for a saviour, my friends. WE will be their saviour!" Marco was speaking from his heart, not his brain "Mewni shall be saved! Your friends, your loved ones, they shall be saved!"

"Woo!" One soldier yelled.

"Men, see that farm behind you? Take some serviceable horses. They may not fly but when the enemy sees us, they will see… warriors as fast as the wind befall them." Marco adjusted himself in his horse. He felt no stress, no fear, only eagerness as the men came out of the hospital with horses.

"Men! Mount your horses! Today, the legend of the 17th infantry shall be born! FORWARDS, FOR YOUR BELOVED!" Marco charged towards the city, horse in full gallop. His soldiers did the same, the sound of gallops merging into one fantastic sound.

An orchestra of speed. A symphony of war.


	38. Marco finally gets to the castle

Ch 36: Fast as the wind.

Marco felt the wind make his hair fly back as he dashed through the night, the only objective to get to the city. He had a sword, mostly for aesthetic purposes as generals were never meant to fight in a battle. He unsheathed it and raised it forward.

Nothing was gonna stand in his way. And now the enemy was just that: The enemy, the target, nothing more.

They came upon the city gates, ajar and people fleeing. Next to the civilians, was another calvary group. One face stood out, Commander Walter Wenck. The man who educated Marco on war was on the ground with his calvarymen, escorting civilians to safety.

"General Wenck! Could you spare some calvary?" Marco waved to him "We're planning a securement of the castle!" Marco already explained this to his men. By liberating the castle they could call for more reinforcements.

"I can spare about 150 calvarymen." Wenck used his hand to signal the other men. Sure enough, Marco's numbers swelled to a total of about 200 cavalry.

"RIDE IN GROUPS OF 20 MEN! WE SPLIT UP AND MEET AT THE CASTLE!" Marco knew a solid group of 200 would be too slow and too easy to ambush. He recalled a teaching from Walter Wenck:

"_Water changes its shape according to its container. The environment is the container. You must be the water." _At the time it sounded like gibberish, but now he knows what it means. No constant shape, change all the time.

Groups of 20 started to gallop off into the city and through the streets. Marco did the same with his group of 20, weapons drawn and at the ready. All around them, buildings crumbled down into fire. Smoke stung at Marco's eyes as he set it on the enemy.

A small group of armoured swordsmen was up the street. Marco raised his sword and struck one of them in the back when they rode through them. He didn't draw blood, probably because he hit the armour, but he saw blood on some of the other's horses. Marco couldn't help but smirk for a second; he had some good soldiers at his side.

Another group of enemies. This looked like a caravan of medics, stretchers with wounded being carried away. Marco did not see them as wounded, they were enemies all the same. He drew blood from one of the medics. Flicks of crimson reached his hand, but he gave no attention to it. They met up with one of the groups already, so they must be getting close.

As Marco's horse galloped, he started to hear background noises. The crackle of fire as the screams of the Mewmans echoed from far away, but the closer ones cheered. He heard some Mewmans cheering them on, and some of them looked in awe at the galloping horses. He put his sword away, sheathing it on the left side of his waist.

They reached the inner wall. The wall which separates the city from the castle. The entrance, while ajar, was obstructed by enough rubble that the horses could not enter. Marco waited for more men to arrive. When there were approximately 200 again, he gave his orders.

"IF YOUR LAST NAME STARTS WITH A THROUGH H, YOU COME WITH ME TO THE WESTERN SIDE. IF YOUR NAME STARTS WITH AN I THROUGH P, GO WITH FC MURPHY AND SECURE EASTERN SIDE. REST OF YOU, SECURE THE PERIMETER AND WORK OUTWARDS." Marco cleared his throat. It was hard, shouting this much. "DISMOUNT!" Everyone got off their horses.

Marco unsheathed his blade. It glistened an orange hue from the great flame behind it.


	39. Idk what to put here

**AN: I have changed the tag from 'Angst' to 'Tragedy' because for some reason I didn't see Tragedy when I changed the tags. (Also it fits in more for the story, which is a given)**

Ch 37: Marco blooms

Marco took the lead and went into the castle first. There wasn't much fire inside, as the walls were made of stone. But the inside was trashed, tables and tapestry upturned and ripped. Doors opened, with blood on the floor. A few bodies were strewn about, with swords bloodied in hand.

They split up once more. In groups of 20, they started to sweep the eastern wing of the castle. Marco chose a group to search with and lead them.

Although there weren't many ongoing fires, there was a clear attempt to burn the building down. Ash carried by the draft, occasional soot on the wall. As they marched through, royal guardsmen and other workers came out of hiding. As they questioned the witnesses, a revelation came to Marco and his soldiers.

The Blossom family made this battle happen. The family that got Marco officially into the royal house, all of them were traitors.

They did it so that they may look like the good guys. So that they could say "We advocated for the end of this war. Now it has caught up with you" To everyone. They'll get enough power to free the mining camps.

_How dare they? _Marco thought as he and his men took a break _They've killed tens of thousands in the past hour alone, they could've killed someone I know. They could've killed…_ Marco rubbed his eyes as he thought about it again.

Then, Marco got enveloped by another thought. These traitors, they have killed so many. He remembered the prisoner he killed, how he had to do it to save so many others. He knows that if the Blossoms are left to live, then they will do something like this again.

They took to marching again, looking everywhere for the Blossoms and the Royal family. Then they ran into another sweeping team. They had taken some prisoners in shackles, and the prisoner's identities could not be any more convenient.

"We figured out that these people are traitors, General Diaz." One of the soldiers said.

Marco looked at them. An extended family of 26, Men, Women, Children. Marco had a straight face and he looked one of them in the eye. Ginger Blossom, the one who got Marco a secure place in the royal house, stared back. She acted like she was emotionless as well, but Marco could tell she was scared.

Marco gave the order.

He did not flinch, as metal met cloth and skin. He did not reel in disgust as the blood pool came to touch his shoes. He did not feel anything as he saw the struggle to break free, and heard the cries and screams for mercy.

It was done. Marco did not even feel a twinge of nausea. It was the same, the family, the prisoner, the pigs. It was all necessary. He didn't feel guilt for the prisoner anymore.


	40. yey he did it

Ch 38: All he cares about.

They carried onwards, for they still had a task. Locate a mirror and call for help so that the enemy may be removed from the city.

They came upon a knight. Armour dented, bloodied, lying down. His helmet was off.

"General… Diaz…?" The knight's voice was raspy as he made a sad attempt at a salute. "I… don't feel my legs…"

"Someone give him some medical care." Marco said.

"Do you have any water? I…" The knight started to cough up blood. "I think they got my lungs as well."

"What happened?" Marco knelt down as one of his soldiers gave the knight water. This sight would have disgusted Marco, a bloodied and battered victim in front of him should have made him vomit. But he kept a straight, serious, demanding face.

"They attacked us in the halls. I was... posted by a door, but I joined the queen's side as a bodyguard." The knight took a few moist breaths.

"Do you know where they are now?"

"We tried to get them to a carriage and evacuate them, but we were held by the enemy in this very hall. I was left here along with a few of my comrades to hold the line as the royal family ran."

"Where did they run to?" Marco was getting tired of him not giving up what he wanted "We're gonna evacuate them, alright?"

"Something about- about a safe room. I passed it, scorched doorway but safe inside. I know where it is… I could show you. I just need to be carried and I can point you the way."

Marco got two soldiers to carry the knight. One grabbed him by the legs and one by the shoulders. Weakly, the knight pointed his shaky hands deeper into the hall.

Marco followed his lead, and by extension everyone else did. They followed him through winding halls, the general disorder getting better as they advanced.

Then, they found it. A shut doorway, streaked in soot, a guard at its side.

"Steve McCray of the Royal guard, sir!" The soldier gave a salute. His face and uniform was dirty, eyes sunk. But he was ready for anything, voice and chin high.

"They're in there, sir." The carried knight pointed at the door.

"Open it. We'll get them out of this commotion." Marco directed strictly.

The guard opened the door a crack, and whispered into it. Probably informing that Marco was there. Then the door slammed open, the Butterfly family and a few guards within the room being revealed.

Star was the one who slammed opened the door, which didn't surprise Marco in the slightest.

"MARCO!" Star practically launched herself towards Marco and gave him the best hug Marco got in recent memory. Marco hugged her back protectively, closing his eyes as he felt a physical and mental warmth enveloped him.


	41. Third quarter

**THIRD QUARTER**

"_Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."_

\- Abraham Lincoln

**AN: Now that I look back, this Quarter is gonna be the last one. Weird for things to end in the third quarter, but eh. Also the quote from Hitler doesn't really work. I feel like the plot is a bit too convoluted at the beginning, And timeline inconsistencies with the first story with what I have planned. Things go in unexpected ways when you wing it in between plot points :P**


	42. What do you call a tired pea A SLEEP-PEA

Ch 39: After the battle.

Marco was now the most powerful general in all of Mewni's history.

Once Marco had escorted the royal family out of the city and retook the castle, he contacted every battalion (Even ones that were under a different general's command) to provide help in liberating Mewni. It took three straight days of active combat to drive the enemy out, but eventually they did.

It was then found out that every general except Marco and Walter Wenck died trying to escape the battle. Marco's troops were the first to provide aid, as every other battalion didn't get explicit orders to go back to Mewni. The majority of the army insisted to be commanded by Marco when they found out their general died. They even gave Marco a nickname. Marco "The First" Diaz.

Marco now had the burden of a million deaths.

Every battalion, every after-battle report, every reported death, it all takes its toll. He saw every planned battle as the Battle of Mewni, like he was planning the repetition of the horrible sights he saw on that night. At least he convinced himself that the enemy's life was below that of his own troops. Anything to keep the enemy away from Mewni and Star.

Having to tend to almost every single battalion is a hard, stressful task. Even when he's not at the planning map, he's still anxious about how every battle will go. Star noticed him acting weird when she stayed up late and passed by Marco's room.

"Marco?" Star slowly opened the already cracked open door "Why're you still up?"

Marco was in his bed sitting upright, blanket still on his lap. He turned his head away from the lit lighter he had and looked at Star. "Why're you?"

"I just got back from a party!" Star stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

Marco rubbed his eyes and flicked his lighter closed "I was woken up by a nightmare." The rain outside gave a soothing effect to all in the room.

"Want to talk about it?" Star sat herself down next to Marco on the bed.

Marco took a moment to remember the nightmare, closing his eyes to visualize it better. "I was out on the open water on a boat, during a thunderstorm. You and a bunch of other people were on a boat far away. Then, thunder stuck your boat." Marco fell back and hit his head on his pillow "Fire broke out, and I really couldn't do anything to save any of you."

Star, giving a comforting pat, said with a reassuring smile, "Well, it's just a nightmare!"

"I can't sleep though." Marco said "Can I talk to you for a while?"

"I don't see why not!" Star lied next to him "So, what do you wanna talk about?"

"I'm just stressed. I work during the day, and I can't sleep in the night, just…" Marco ranted for a while, and Star fiddled with her wand as she listened. He mainly just complained about worrying all the time, and how he always had nightmares recently.

After a long rant, Star interrupted by saying "If you're so worried about work then why don't you just take a vacation?"

"I'm trying to, but I need someone to do my work in my absence. And nobody wants to do 25 hours of paperwork and map pointing a day…" Marco continued to rant again.

He complained for approximately half an hour. Star got a little chilly and didn't really want to steal the blankets so she just shuffled closer to Marco. Marco started to drift off and lie down as he slid his arm around her subconsciously.

"You know, i've noticed something…" Marco yawned "Everytime i'm alone with you, I feel like… I can really… talk about myself..." They drifted to sleep.


	43. Protective is a stretch

Ch 40: "I will not let any harm come to anyone here…"

"In conclusion, patrols were diverted from the main entry point, and the enemy's path was interrupted by any force until they reached Mewni itself. They technically did not commit any war crimes" Marco's new assistant was hunched over the map showing him how the enemy slipped into the city unnoticed.

"Right, well what about their new foothold in Mewni?" Marco was sitting at the end of the table, looking at the map.

"Yes, they have gained a considerable foothold, but there are at least three defensive lines they will have to break through in order to get close to Mewni." The assistant pointed to a region north of Mewni. "First a river, then a mountain pass, then finally another river. And even then, we already have troops surrounding the foothold."

Marco thought about this and gazed upon the map. The space between the surrounded enemy foothold and the first river was snowy, but there were a large number of farms in small towns. He counted the approximate number of bridges on that river, and said "Retreat the troops, tell them to burn down every farm and forest to the ground. Then when they reach the other side of the river, destroy all but one bridge."

"Excuse me?"

"They'll be starved out. By the time they reach the river, they'll be funnelled into that one spot with a bridge. Our troops will have no problem destroying the majority of their army in one go."

"Sir, you're saying that we _burn down_ that entire region?" The assistant almost couldn't believe it.

"It's necessary. We cannot let them take supplies from that region, it will save more lives than it will end. Believe me, it's the safest option."

"Ok, sir…"

Marco could sense that his assistant was getting a bit unnerved, so he changed the topic. "What about that newspaper I keep on hearing about?"

"Ah yes, a newspaper writer keeps on writing articles criticizing the war calling it useless. We tried asking him to stop, but he didn't listen."

"While I _do _agree with him…" Marco whispered under his breath "Arrest him for treason."

The assistant looked surprised, and said "I don't think that's the best course of action sir…"

"Look," Marco stood up "It's us, or them." Marco hit the table for emphasis "Do you want Mewni to burn again?"

"I- I don't want that…"

"That writer is a detriment for morale, we need every edge we can get."

"O-Of course sir. I'll relay those orders to the police."

"Remember this, my assistant." Marco got uncomfortably close to his assistant "Whatever happens, I _will not_ let the enemy into this city. Doesn't matter if I have to burn down everything outside of it, I will set the universe ablaze before I let any harm come to anything or anyone in here, _especially not St-_" Marco stopped himself from talking "Sorry, got a bit carried away there."


	44. Just lie down and let it happen

**AN: Yo I got like a boom of viewers on the 14th, what happened? Did I get recommended by someone popular or something?**

**Whatever the case, it really do be a bruh moment**

Ch 41: Forgive and forget

Marco had finished his work earlier than usual. Normally, it would be about midnight when he finished. But it was twilight when he left his office. He started his walk to his room, which required him to go past a door which led outside. Coincidentally, someone was knocking on the other side. Marco opened it out of kindness, it was Tom.

"Oh, it's you…" Tom said in a monotone voice.

"Ah…" Marco looked at him up and down. He had some fancy looking clothes on, and was holding a bouquet of flowers. "What brings you here?" Marco welcomed him in.

"I'm going out with Star." Tom walked in "As a date."

"Well good for you!" Marco smiled.

"Wait, what? You're fine with this?"

"Well for a while I fought it, but i've sort of just accepted that you're destined to be together for the rest of your lives."

"I don't believe you. You're saying you just stopped having feelings like that?" Tom snapped his fingers.

"I like her as a friend now." Marco said "And I have more important stuff to do anyway."

"I still don't believe you. Come on! You can't just stop having feelings for someone!" Tom said as he settled inside.

"And I can't fight destiny damn it!" Marco slammed the door closed "I can't change anything! It'll be better if I just let it happen!"

Tom was taken aback "I… didn't know-"

"I'm sorry." Marco said, a bit embarrassed "Just… I don't know. I'll leave you to it." Marco walked off, leaving Tom. He went up to his room, where he got into bed and stared at the ceiling for a bit before going to sleep.


	45. How is Marco not dead yet

Ch 42: Objection

"Sir, you've stayed up for three days straight. I'm no doctor but I know that isn't very healthy." Marco's assistant handed him his coffee.

Marco stayed silent as he took two gulps of coffee and shakily scribbled his signature to multiple pieces of paper.

"Are you even reading those?" The assistant waited for a response. Of course, there was none. Marco's rapid scribbling just continued, so his assistant just started helping out with the paperwork while not disturbing Marco in his energized state. It's a wonder how Marco hasn't passed out from over exhaustion or a caffeine overdose

A ringing interrupted the rather repetitive pencil-on-paper scratches. The mirror which hung right next to Marco was ringing, and Marco answered it.

"General Wenck." Marco greeted his former mentor.

"General Diaz." He said back "I heard about how you gave the order to _raze_ the entire region above a major river."

"Yes." Marco replied.

"You know that you could be killing thousands of people, right?" Wenck asked.

"Yes." Marco said, his tone and demeanor unchanged.

"Why- What do you wish to accomplish with this?" Wenck got increasingly confused.

Marco got closer to the mirror. "We burn every source of food, feign retreat to the

river, then wait for the majority of their armies to arrive. When they do, they will be starving, weak, easy to defeat. Take out their military in one fell swoop."

"I still don't think it's the right plan. May I have some reinforcements to keep their foothold into our world pinned?"

"You aren't getting any." Marco sternly said "I have enough of the army under my control that you _have_ to comply with me. Try to do something else, and you won't have enough manpower."

Wenck paused for a moment, his face a mixture of confusion, fear, and disgust. "Diaz, you can't do that! We have multiple generals so that one cannot have a rebellion and succeed, what you just said is borderline treason! Queen Moon shall not tolerate this!"

"Shall not tolerate what? That I have the majority of the army?"

"I'm practically useless if I can't operate by myself, Diaz!" Wenck shouted angrily.

"Then oversee my operations." Marco said calmly "And it's General Diaz, by the way."

"What? I'm of equal standing as you, I don't take orders-"

"Mirror hang up" Marco said. The mirror returned to it's reflective state.

Before he returned to his paperwork, Marco asked his assistant "What was your last name again?"

"Bugdwarf, sir."

"Huh… like an insect and a short bearded person?"

"Yes sir."

"Strange name."


	46. Earth catches up

Ch 43: Emergency powers

General Wenck knew it was true, it would be futile to go against Marco's plans. So he abided by them, and oversaw the fortification of the last bridge across the river. The river was huge, forming a valley. The cold weather and the waters of the river gave the place a nickname: The Cold Shower. The bridge itself was stone with large metal supports. Wenck had it rigged with explosives.

The soldiers there reported hearing strange rumbles in the air, like a low hum. On the days that the mist had cleared up, birds like no-one's ever seen were regularly spotted in the distance. It seemed that the sounds came from them, and so they observed them through a telescope. They couldn't get a good look at the bird itself, but they saw that it dropped something every time it flew. And so Wenck sent out a two man scouting team to see what it was dropping.

They came back with a can of food.

"The birds drop these massive crates of supplies, almost as big as an entire man." One of the scouts reported to Wenck "They dropped multiple of them, and a convoy of enemy soldiers came and picked them up. We were in the bushes when they came, and we followed them back to their camp. They're well supplied, outnumber us roughly 5 to 1, and that's only an estimation."

Wenck pondered this for a moment, and asked "Was there any insignia on the supply crates?"

"Yes, there was a flag and some words below it: _311th British RAF, Hello From the Isle!"_

Wenck waited for a few days to see how the situation developed. It was business as usual except for one thing: The bird got closer and closer each time it made the drop. They could see it clearly now, even without the telescope. It was manmade, with the word "PLANE" spray painted on it. Wenck sent more scouts, and it was confirmed that the enemy outnumbered them 5:1.

He had no choice. It was either fight and lose, or retreat. At least if he retreated, there wouldn't be much bloodshed. So he blew up the bridge and retreated. At least they would be slowed down with no bridge.


	47. All my homies hate strawberry

Ch 44: Ice cream

Marco had one hand on the spoon, and one hand on the tub of neapolitan ice cream. The smooth vanilla and strawberry surfaces untouched, while the chocolate had many indentations in it, but no chunks of it missing. It was frozen solid, almost impossible to even make a dent in it.

"Are you sure you don't want any help? It's been 5 minutes and still no ice cream..." Tom looked down at his empty bowl and crossed his arms.

"I don't need any fire magic, alright?" Marco said.

"Alright." Tom rolled his eyes.

Marco held the ice cream in place as he raised his spoon to the air like a knife. He thrusted it downward as hard as he could. He got one-third of the spoon into the ice cream. He put both of his hands on the spoon handle, one holding it from the side and one on holding it from the top. He pushed the spoon down, then pushed it to the side like a lever. He got a respectable chunk of chocolate ice cream.

"Here you go!" Marco shook the ice cream off the spoon and into Tom's bowl. "So, why're you here?" He said as he stabbed the carton for more ice cream.

"Well, I came to Mewni because I was going on another date with Star." Tom ate a bit of ice cream "But I came by to confront you about something."

"And what is it?" Marco got vanilla for himself.

"You're lying to me, aren't you?" Tom set down his spoon with a _clang_.

"Uh…" Marco genuinely had no idea what he meant.

"About you and Star. You think I don't see you two talking?"

"We're just friends…"

"Why should I believe you?" Tom stood from his seat and started to approach Marco "Tell me one good reason!"

Marco stood up and started to back away "W- we're just good friends, alright? How about we just sit down and eat our ice crea-" Tom blasted fire towards the table, which burned it. Marco kept backing up until he hit a door, then he tried to open it. It was locked despite the door not having one.

"I locked every door here with magic. You're gonna have to tell me before you get out." Tom grabbed Marco by the collar. "So, tell me one good reason!" Marco could feel heat on his clothes, he's gonna have to give an answer or he'd burn up.

"I- if I was doing what you think I am… I wouldn't have broken out the i- ice cream, right?" Marco closed his eyes and braced for flames.

The longest second of Marco's life passed, then Tom said "What?"

"I- uh, wouldn't have welcomed you so warmly right? I would've done everything to get you to leave. Giving you ice cream keeps you here."

Tom tightened his grip, Marco whimpered a bit, then Tom let him go. "You're right…" Tom said, defeated. He spun his fingers and a click was heard from every door in the room. "You can go now."

Marco immediately grabbed the doorknob, but paused when he heard something from Tom. "Are- are you crying?"

"What? No!" Tom turned his back and crossed his arms.

"Tom-" Marco put his hand on Tom's shoulder "-you can trust me, ok?"

They paused and said "I- I still feel so bad since I found out a few months ago." Tom turned to face Marco "I _trusted _you, Marco. When I had you come along with me…"

"It was a monstrous betrayal." Marco said "I regret it. I really, really do."

"..."

"..."

"You wanna get back to the ice cream?" Marco asked.

Tom cracked a relieved smile. "I'd… I'd like that." Marco smiled back.


	48. Everything's going good personally

Ch 45: Star's 16th

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" 16 candles lit the chocolate cake in front of Star. "Happy birthday to Sta-ar! Happy birthday to you!" She blew out her candles and everyone cheered.

"So what did you wish for?" Tom asked.

"Hmm…" Star smiled "I'd rather not say."

"Then lets get some cake!" Someone shouted

So they cut into the cake. Star got the first slice, followed by Tom, then Marco deliberately let himself get one of the last slices letting everyone get their slices first. Marco took his cake on a paper plate and plastic fork and walked over to Tom.

"I was thinking you weren't gonna show up!"

"I was worried I was gonna miss the song." Tom said.

"Good thing you came." They fist bumped each other.

Marco talked to Tom until he finished his cake. He went to get some more food, and on his way he talked to Star.

"Hard to believe it's only been two years since we met." Star said.

"Yeah, so much has happened. This wouldn't have even occurred to me 2 years ago that my life might become... this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Marco looked at her "You're literally a princess. Few years ago if someone told me I would be friends with an actual princess I would call you crazy."

"True, but it's not _bad_, right?"

"I wouldn't trade this life for any other." Marco said "So, how do you like the tacos I made for-"

_Brrr Brrr_

"Hang on, the mirror's ringing." Marco took out his hand mirror. "Oh. uh, I need to take this." Marco excused himself.

He found a quiet part of the party then answered the call "Bugdwarf! I told you not to call me today!"

"It's urgent sir." Bugdwarf said.

"It can't be too urgent. It's on Star's 16th, I have to be here-"

"It's Earth."

"What?"

"The allies."

Marco paused "I'm coming."


	49. Helpful!

Ch 46: Merging of Wars.

Marco sat behind his desk, clicking his pen in impatience. Over the months he had hired more assistants, and he now had a healthy sleep schedule. In order of most recently hired to the most veteran, his assistants present were called Jodl, Crabs, and of course Bugdwarf.

"I got out of Star's 16th for this." Marco said "What's the news?"

Bugdwarf put an already opened letter on Marco's desk. Marco looked at it, then looked at his assistants. "What's this?"

His assistants glanced at each other, but nobody answered.

"Fine. I'll read it myself." Marco slowly took out the neatly folded paper from the letter, afraid of what bad news could lie within. He knew it was about Earth and the allies, at least. He unfolded it and started reading. The letter was dated March 14th 1943.

He finished reading in silence. In sorrow, even.

"It's a declaration of war by the Allies, sir." Bugdwarf broke the silence.

"How many nations are we at war with, now?"

"Previously, 5 against one. Now, 23 against one." Crabs said.

"And still no help from the Germans…"

The door to the office opened with a squeak. Marco's newest assistant, Kettle, the man who opened it. "Sorry for being late, sir, but I have good news!" Kettle enthusiastically held up an opened letter in his hand.

"Give it to me."

Kettle handed the letter to Marco, who read it quickly.

"What does it say, sir?"

"The Germans are sending enough supplies to train a Mechanized battalion. They're even sending somebody to train another general how to command that battalion."

"Is… is that good?"

"It's a sign that the Germans want to help us. It's great!" Though he felt a bit bad accepting help from actual Nazis, he always accepted help. "The war always seems farther away than it actually is." Marco remembered the battle of Mewni, where there was no warning of it happening. "Get me a pen!"


	50. Marco considers his gift

Ch 47: The Unbreakable Spell

"I really think you should give the Mechanized force to General Wenck." Kettle said.

"Are you crazy?" Marco asked, almost bewildered.

"What's so bad about General Wenck?" Kettle said nonchalantly. Marco's 3 other assistants gave Kettle a quick glance, as if to say _Stop immediately._

"What's so bad about General Wenck? _What's so bad about General Wenck?!" _Marco slammed his fist on his office table "General Wenck is a COWARD and a TRAITOR! It's a miracle I haven't had him KILLED yet."

"Sir! Sir! Deep breaths!" Bugdwarf said. Marco took a sip of water from his cup and calmed down.

"Sorry, sorry, got a bit carried away there." Marco laughed "So, which officer should I give the Mechanized to-"

"General Wenck probably has more experience than any of your officers. They've probably commanded just one battalion, while Wenck has a career of experience and commanded entire armies-" Jodl gave Kettle a kick and a look that said _STOP IMMEDIATELY!_

Thankfully, Marco had himself under control. He took another sip of water, with his eyelid twitching.

Bugdwarf started "How about we talk about something else-"

"Did he do something?"

Marco pounded his fists on the table and stood up. "If Wenck had just held his position we wouldn't be in this mess!" Marco knocked over his glass of water, spilling it all over his desk of papers "We wouldn't have accepted help from literal NAZIS and I wouldn't fear for my LIFE! OUR LIVES! _STAR'S_ LIFE! We wouldn't need to fear another MEWNI BURNING!"

Everyone gave Kettle a dirty look. Then Marco's assistants started to glance at each other to see who would try and calm Marco, but he calmed himself down. He sat back in his seat and put his head down on the desk.

"Are you ok, sir?"

"I'm just so tired." Marco said "So tired of the constant fear, constant pressure, and constant guilt."

"What do you mean?"

Marco looked up "I'm always afraid of Mewni going under attack again. It was so scary… knowing that everyone you care about could just be gone like that…" Marco looked at his ruined papers "The constant pressure of commanding an entire army. Every setback, every movement, you always second guess yourself. _What if this is what loses us the war?_ Things like that." Marco knocked over the stack of paste like paper "And constant guilt of…" Marco sighed and put his head down again. "I just want to be safe. All of us to be safe."

There was an awkward silence between all of them, then Marco said "Wenck is not trustworthy, he's proven that at the river crossing." Marco opened his desk drawer, and took out his fairly new pistol "We can't give him another chance to jeopardize Mewni."

"I'll get your carriage ready right away si-" Jodl was interrupted by a knocking at the door.

"Marco? I heard you shouting, is something wrong?" Star's voice came through.

"Should we let her in?"

"Yes!" Marco immediately perked up. "All of you should leave, in fact. Star! Come in!"

Star opened the squeaky door, Marco's assistants side stepped their way out letting her walk though. They closed the door behind them leaving Star and Marco alone.

"So, what's up?" Marco had a smile on his face.

"Marco, why do you have a gun in your hand?"

"Oh, this thing?" Marco quickly opened his drawer and threw the gun in "It's nothing, really." Marco gave Star finger guns.

"I heard you shouting about Wenck."

Marco shuffled uncomfortably, "Ok, I'm upset about him. But come on! We would be out of this mess of a war if he had held his position."

"Is that why you had a gun out?"

"Erm..."

Star put her hand down firmly on the desk "Marco."

"I was gonna go and kill him, alright!" Marco picked his gun back up "He's a traitor! He could do something like that again!"

Star gasped "Marco!"

"You obviously expected me to say that!"

"I know but still…" Star glanced at the gun "He can't be too bad! I know him, he's like a cool grandpa! What he did, I'm sure he thought it was the best thing to do."

"But… We still can't trust him!"

"Look at me, Marco." Star ordered.

"Ok…"

"You are my bestest friend." Star said. "Don't even think for a second that I would give you advice that I know is bad."

"But Wenck is-"

"No." She grabbed his arm "I heard that you got a big military force from the Germans as a gift. Give it to Wenck, ok?"

"But-" Marco started, but Star gently tightened her grip. Marco sighed "Ok, Star. I'll do it."

"Promise?"

"Of course. You're my bestest friend too, you know?" Both of them smiled.

They looked at each other, gazing into the other's eyes. They were both put at ease by the image of the other, going into a sort of surreal calm. Unconsciously, they started to gravitate towards each other. Star slid her hand from Marco's arm and down to his hand.

As they moved closer, they could feel more things. They could feel their fingers interlocking, and their hearts pounding. They could feel each other's breaths on their face, and they could feel each other's warmth radiate from them. With mere centimeters between their faces, they both yanked themselves away at the same time.

Marco felt like his body broke. He felt hollow and his skin was cold. And there was something else, like the entire universe, the entirety of destiny, had fought him. Judging from Star's face, she had the same feeling.

"Did you come here for anything else?" Marco asked.

"No, that was it." Star waved "See ya later."

"Yup." Marco waved back. Star walked backwards and out of the room.


	51. Good times

Ch 48: Protocol.

"Here's the rulebook!" Kettle, Crabs, and Jodl put the book down with a _thud. _It was so thick it almost blocked Marco's view of everyone. Tall would be a better way to describe it.

Marco looked at it in awe for a moment, then said "How many pages does this thing have!?"

"12,083." Crabs said "If you omit the acknowledgements, the table of contents, and the like, you come to 11,914."

Marco opened it approximately at the halfway point. It ripped in half under its own weight.

"That happens normally, sir."

"Alright…" Marco opened up the start of the book and searched the table of contents. "Here!" Marco found what he was looking for "'_Death of the Queen and/or her heirs. Page 5,903'"_ Marco flipped through "Alright…" Marco got to his destination.

"Why're you reading up on this?" Bugdwarf asked.

"Uh… Just in case the unthinkable happens, we'll know what we're doing." Marco started to read "'_In case the Queen dies, the King shall take control of her position before her heir. Then, after the heir goes through the proper protocols and traditions, she will take the throne. If both the Queen and King dies, the heir may immediately take control of the throne. If the Queen, King, and main heirs die, then control of the throne shall be given to a court until another heir is found. But if it is during wartime, then the Generals shall be given control of the throne until another heir is found.'" _Marco finished.

"Do you need anything else from the rule book?"

"Nope, that's it!" Marco closed it.

"Alright, sir." Kettle, Crabs, and Jodl picked up the heavy two pieces of the book with a grunt and went to return them to the library. That left Marco and Bugdwarf alone.

"Sir, can i ask you a personal question?" Bugdwarf cautiously said.

"Ask away!"

"It's about Star. You seem to have a deep connection to her."

"We're good friends." Marco smiled "Some would say, 'bestest friends!'"

"I heard some rumors that you and Star were more than that a few years ago."

"Yeah. Good times."

"I assume you two broke up?"

"Of course we did. She has a new boyfriend now, Tom."

"But _why_ did you break up?"

Marco's smile quickly faded "Blood Moon Ball. Every 667 years, it rises. Whoever's under its light is destined to be together." Marco looked down "They were under that."

"But you couldn't possibly just give up."

"What could I do? Nothing; that's what. Of course I tried to fight it but it was useless. No matter what I do, the universe has a different plan. Hell, a few days ago when I was alone with her after ranting about-" Marco stopped himself "It's not important."

"So that's it then?"

"Yes." Marco sighed "Now, how about we just do nothing in silence until everyone else comes back?"

"Yes, sir."


	52. This one doesn't include main cast sorry

Ch 49: Redemption

John Crowley didn't know how he, or the rest of his squad, became part of the first inter-dimensional military force known to earth, but he didn't care. He'd made a few good friends who came from different dimensions. It was novel, all of them seemed to come from distant, alien worlds.

It was weird, taking part of the first inter-dimensional war Britain was in. He knew it was historical, and that he should be more enthusiastic, but after the first few days the novelty wore off. But now, as his british squad armed with lee-enfields and grenades marched alongside medieval knights and mystical creatures, he felt nervous. He couldn't help but feel like he was doing the country injustice, feeling fear when he should've been a brave soldier like in all the posters he saw advertising conscription.

No matter; he can't run now. He's going into an important battle, an attempt at breaking through a major chokepoint. Now this mountain pass, then the next river crossing, then the city of Mewni itself.

It was the dead of night, an aura of magic was applied to the battalion to silence everything they did. No footstep or scream would make a peep. They were practically invisible. After marching for a while, they saw the entrance to the pass. Light smoke stacks indicated campfires. Each squad silently surrounded them on three sides, as was the plan. Crowley was next to a medieval team of knights and a group of talking animals fitted with weapons.

He looked at his watch "60 seconds until 2:00 AM."

Crowley adjusted himself in his crouched position. They were concealed in the foliage of the surrounding forest, 500 meters of flat field between them and the campfires.

"45 seconds." He whispered

He checked that his rifle was loaded. It was, with a 10 round magazine. He checked his bayonet. It was affixed firmly. He had already checked everything before, it was anxiety making him do it again.

"30 seconds." He whispered

Images of the brave british soldier flashed across Crowley's mind. It teased him. He wasn't what was on the posters, he was a coward, scared for his life. A boy in a man's place.

"15 seconds-" A cry came from across the plain as a group of magic wielding soldiers came charging out of the forest.

"What's happening?" A few more squads came out of the forest.

"They were off by a few seconds!"

Crowley saw his opportunity. He could become what was on the posters. Still full of fear, he stood up. Rifle in one hand and the other waving for everyone to move forwards. "What're we waiting for, lads!? CHARGE!"

A universal shout came from them.

"CHARGE!"

"CHARGE!"  
"FOR KING AND COUNTRY!"

"IN THE NAME OF THE KING!"

They came rushing out of the forest, fierce faces on them as they dashed through the flat field. The Mewnians were retreating. They shot at them, as did every other squad. Magical projectiles lit up the dark battlefield, gunshots cracked the serene night as did the war cries of a combined force of every dimension opposing Mewni.

After running for so long and so fast, the average man would've stopped to rest. But fueled on adrenaline, they reached the enemy campfires in one mad dash. They could see the enemy retreating into the mountain, so Crowley took a few shots. He got one in the back of the head.

They watched as the Mewmans ran. A rainbow of weaponry and sounds striking them. Crowley breathed a sigh of relief as the Mewmans got out of sight. Then, something rumbled the ground. Like an earthquake, a metal fortress rounded the corner of the mountain pass.

The tank pushed foliage under its tracks. Panicking, Crwoley started shooting at it. He could see arrows and magic hitting it, but to no avail. Then finally, a magical spear throw must have hit it in the right place, because half the tank got devastated in one explosion. Crowley shot one of the escaping tank drivers.

A cautious relief, then more explosions. Multiple at a time, the tanks emerged from the same forest they had used to encircle the Mewmans. They were now advancing, slowly making their way across the open field. Crolwey started to run into the Mountain pass, only to be met with another tank. They were trapped.

Crowley looked back at the forest. With a few tanks, there were large gaps in between them. He already saw some people rushing towards them, and so he did the same.

Sprinting towards the massive metal fortresses, Crowley was scared. But again, he knew he should- no, _must _be brave. So he ran without looking back. He sprinted as hard as he could, and got to the sides of the tanks. His gut told him to keep running, but there was something in his heart telling him to do otherwise.

He ran up to the side of one of the tanks. He could see some writing on the side of the tank: "_Mewni First Mechanized."_ He unpinned his grenade, stuck it into the tracks, then ran. The explosion devastated the tracks, rendering the tank immobile.

Now behind the tanks, he had a clear shot for running into the forest. Diving behind the first tree, he caught his breath and looked back at the carnage.

Explosions, magic, and sound ripped the night. But it was clear who the victor was gonna be: The Mewmans. Crowley fled deeper into the forest and collapsed from exhaustion on the moss-carpeted floor.


	53. Cooking gets interrupted

Ch 50: She was right

"How about we try this one?" Star pointed at a picture of chocolate muffins on the cookbook.

"I still think we should do tacos."

Star rocked in her non-rocking chair "Marco, we did tacos last time."

"And they were delicious!"

Star flipped through the cookbook "Oh, how about we try pizza? Everybody loves pizza!"

"Sounds good. So what do we need-" Marco felt a vibrating in his pocket. "Oh, hang on." Marco looked at his hand mirror and immediately frowned "It's work."

"Marco, you can't let them cut into our cooking time! We only get to do this once a week!"

"I'll see if it's important. If it's not, then we can have our cooking time." Marco answered the call. "Make it quick, please."

"The report for Wenck's battle is ready sir."

"Is this good or bad news?" Marco asked.

"I think it would be better if you heard this face to face."

"Fine." Marco sighed "I'll come." He hung up.

"Oh come on!" Star held the picture of pizza on the book up to him "Don't you want to eat that?"

"It's important, sorry."

"Look at it!" She held the picture closer

"I really wish we could spend some more time, Star." Marco frowned "I'm sorry. I really am."

"How about I come with you?"

"You can't- actually there aren't any rules about that…"

"Yay!" Star jumped out of her chair "Lead the way!"

"I didn't say anything yet!"

"Aw, so I can't come?"

Marco smiled "I wasn't gonna say no!"

Walking down the halls of the castle, Star was on the verge of skipping with her chipper stroll. Marco's normal walk was much more slow, but with Star around it turned into an upbeat jaunt.

"So what do you do, since you have your assistants to do all your paperwork?"

"I move the army around with a map, and sometimes I have to write some really important letters. Things you actually expect from being in that position."

"Cool!"

"What about you?" Marco's walk slowed, as did Star's.

"Oh, I attend some classes. My favorite was fighting! But I stopped a few years ago." Star looked out of a window "Hey, look! A frog!" She got up on the window seat and pressed her face up to the glass.

Marco looked at the frog she was talking about "That thing's as big as a car!" He got up on the window seat as well "Should we call someone?"

"It's not hurting anyone, we should leave it be!"

"Alright…" Marco got down and took a seat instead of standing on the window. Star did the same.

"So what did you like about fighting class?" Marco made eye contact.

"Lots of things! But if I had to pick one, it's that I got to break stuff!" Star punched the air.

"You do like breaking stuff. Remember when we were making a lava cake, and you _melted_ the bowl and table you were making the filling in?"

"It had lava in the name!"

"It meant molten chocolate, did you expect us to actually eat lava?"

"..."

"Star?"

"No hard feelings?"

Marco laughed "Of course, no hard feelings."

"I can always count on you for no hard feelings!"

"Yup. So when did you actually stop fighting class-" Marco felt his hand-mirror ringing again. "Ugh." Marco answered the call.

"Are you coming, sir?"

"You know what, Bugdwarf? Just tell me over the mirror."

"General Wenck got to the pass at exactly the right time. Soldiers were fleeing, and Wenck decided to push with his force. He won on his own."

Marco blinked twice "He- he won?"

"With astounding results. Only one tank completely destroyed, and one tank severely damaged at the tracks. Some sort of explosiv-"

Marco dropped the mirror "Star! You were right!" He hugged her "I just needed trust!"

"See? Risk doesn't hurt anybody!" Star hugged back.

"I don't think- ah nevermind." Marco hugged tighter, accidentally burying his nose into her hair. It had a sweet scent to it.

"Hugging you is really nice, Marco." Star softly said.

"That is the point of a hug." Sunlight streamed through the curtains and window, dust particles visible as they floated gently and disappeared once they floated out of the sunlight.

"I know, but hugging you is different somehow." Star rested her head on his shoulder and leaned on his head.

"Do you remember when you were in my office, before you told me to trust Wenck?"

"Yeah."

Marco loosened his hug, arms still around her but now facing her front "Do you remember when we almost..." Marco trailed off, but Star knew what he was talking about. She put her right hand on his shoulder.

"Am… am I blushing?" Star slowly made her way closer to Marco, millimeter by millimeter.

He smiled, but his smile quickly turned neutral "Do you remember how we felt after we… pulled away?"

"I might know what you're talking about." Their speech got slower and quieter as they got closer "Could you tell me about the feeling?"

"I- I can't remember." Their faces were but centimeters apart "But right now I feel my heart fluttering, my body warming up…" He could feel the heat coming from Star's face "So… at least I have that certain…" They parted their own lips, closed their eyes and…

Like a thunderclap on a serene night, _something_ made them pull away at the same time. Marco felt hollow, and their mood instantly vanished.

"This! This feeling!" Marco pointed to Star and himself "Something like emptiness and cold! Some force that makes us pull away!"

"Oh… I thought it was just guilt."

"Guilt comes after the fact! Guilt affects you in minutes, it's not a gut instinct!"

"Then what is it?"

"I dunno, but i have a few ideas. Might be magic, maybe someone put a spell on us and forgot to put it off once we broke up. Or maybe something like an unexplained science-"

"Unexplained science? Like how ketchup bottles have that weird ketchup water?"

"That's not unexplained…"

"Ketchup…" Star put her hand on her chin, in deep thought "Oh! We should make that pizza! Race ya to the kitchen?"

"We should really get to the bottom of this. Besides, we're sixteen-"

"What're ya? Scared you might lose?"

"Aw fine! You're on!"


	54. A very small miniscule mood change here

Ch 51: In-person inspection.

"Why're you insisting on it?" Star asked as Marco got into the carriage.

"I just think you shouldn't come, that's all."

"Why not? Why shouldn't I come?" She lifted herself up into the carriage.

"It's a war prison, Star."

"What're ya going to do there anyway?" Star closed the door, and the carriage started moving.

Marco sighed "It's work, d'you think i'm going to a prisoner camp for fun?"

"What kinda work?"

Marco shuffled in his seat "Oh.. you know… military stuff…"

"Alrighty, I can see it for myself!"

"Actually, now that I think about it, I think it would be better if I told you-"

"No spoilers!" Star shushed.

"Fine. So you have any plans for the weekend?"

"Oh, i'm going out with some friends! How 'bout you? Ya got any plans?"

"I'm hanging out with Tom, actually." Marco laughed "Man, he and I used to hate each other! Remember that?"

"Yep! Oh, remember how we met?" Star said.

"Yeah, It was… a unique way to meet. World War Two, Time travelers… My memories are a bit fuzzy but weren't you on the Axis side?"

"Yep!"

"That was the last time I really was in my home dimension…" Marco looked down.

"Ya homesick?"

"My home's in Mewni now. Why would I be homesick?" Marco smiled.

"Aw, that's cute!" Star said.

"Wait, no, i'm a tough guy!"

"You're a cute guy, Marco."

"Fine, but if i'm cute then you're cute too." Marco rebutted with the first thing that came to mind.

Star's eyes lit up "Wow! Thanks!"

"Wait that wasn't meant as a compliment." Marco said "Really didn't think that one through..."

"Hey, ya took the risk of saying the first thing ya thought of. That's a good thing!"

"That's a good thing?"

"Yeah! Getting out of your shell and taking risks is _always _a good thing!"

"I'll make sure to take more risks, then!" Marco then took a risk right then and there "You really are cute, though."

"Huh?"

"Well, I just thought since I said it as an impulse, you might have thought I didn't really… um…" Marco realized he was digging himself into a hole. "You might have thought i didn't really think that when…"

"Marco, you're blushing!"

"Oh, I- I am?" Marco forced himself to let out an awkward laugh "I just wanted to say... it wasn't just an impulse rebuttal but it was… I really do think you're cute."

Star stared for a while, and giggled "Again, thanks!"

Marco laughed with Star. "So who're you going out with-"

The carriage came to an abrupt halt "WE'RE HERE!" The driver yelled from the front.

"We're here!" Star looked at Marco for a reaction. Instead of excitement or joy, she saw a grim expression.

"Star, turn back." Marco had no sign of the joking mood he had mere seconds ago "You won't like what you see."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Star opened the door.

Marco sighed "Alright."

They were greeted with hard dirt on their shoes, a cloud loomed over them and casted a grey shadow. The horizon boasted endless fields, with the only break in the pattern being the city behind them. A greyish tint seemed to cover everything. There was a dirt path that led to their destination. A few bland rectangular buildings surrounded by wire fences and guarded by knights. They approached a wooden gate with two guards. A sign above it read "MILITARY FACILITY - NO ENTRY"

"This place seems… off." Star said.

"Don't worry, we'll be out of here quickly." Marco gave a quick acknowledgement of the two guards saluting him.

The bland buildings were surrounding a central building, that central building had a bell on it's doorway. There were 2 people outside it, one had a military uniform that distinguished him as lieutenant and the other had an old camera in his hands. The type of camera which only captured black and white. There were some knights patrolling around the outside of the central building.

"General Diaz!" The lieutenant gave his best salute "The men have been armed, shall we continue now that you're here?"

"Yes."

"The event is happening behind this building, so go 'round back and you can watch it!" The lieutenant rang the bell, and the patrolling knights went into the buildings and ushered out fifty or so prisoners.

Star and Marco went to the back of the building. The man with the camera followed them, and not far behind was the lieutenant. The fifty prisoners were lined up by tens, forming five lines of ten in total. Their faded green coats were thin, some were scarred and some had patches in their coats. Their eyes sunken and hopeless, hair disheveled and bodies thin.

There was another group of guards, but they weren't the same as the rest. They didn't wear the armour of the knights, they had cloth uniforms. Metal _ricc-raccs_ came from their weapons. Bolt-action rifles being loaded.

"You still want to stay?" Marco said monotone.

"I- I don't know."

"Alright." Marco said "Everyone!" Marco addressed the guards "Positions!"

Quickly, they formed a row away from the wall. Guns pointed downwards towards the hard dirt ground. Then, a line of ten prisoners lined up against the wall. The cameraman set up his camera and started recording, turning a handle and spinning the wheels of film.

Marco felt water pelt his face. He expected the small drizzle to stay like that, but it turned into a sudden shower. Star tried to cover herself using her hands, so Marco quickly took off his coat and handed it to her.

Star took the coat and made a roof for herself. They didn't say a word, they just stood there and watched what was happening.

"Ready!" The lieutenant shouted. The soldiers aimed their guns at the prisoners. "Aim!" Some soldiers made some adjustments to their aim. "General, your call."

Marco turned to Star, and she looked back at him. "Star," He put both his hands on one of hers "last chance." He whispered.

Star gazed at him, her expression had a million things, a million emotions grappling her. But through her sea of feelings, there was one rational question that broke through. Without saying a word, her face asked: _why?_

Marco closed his eyes, just feeling the warmth of her hand as the rain froze their faces numb.

"I'm staying." Star finally said. He let go, feeling as the cold harsh drops hit his clothes. They turned away from each other, to watch the show unfold.

Marco took a deep breath, and gave the order "Fire!"

_BANG_

Like a whale crashing the waves of the ocean, gunshots cracked the white noise of the rain. The torrential downpour was quiet compared to the burst of bullets. All shot in the head, prisoners dead before they hit the ground.

To Star it was like a car crash, it was horrific yet she couldn't look away.

Marco kept quiet, instead it was the lieutenant who shouted "Again!" There were still four more lines of ten prisoners each.

They listened to the rain hit the dirt ground, turning what they stood on into mud. The monotonous noise was calming almost, as it was what was in between the volleys. Thunderous blasts signed ten more dead, then another ten, and another. In the last volley, there was a break in the horrible operation.

"Please." One of the prisoners said.

A bang, and silence. The rain washed away the blood on the wall, and the pile of bodies served as a reminder if anyone couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Marco…" Star was on the verge of either throwing up or breaking down in tears "Why?"

Marco didn't look at Star, he couldn't "If I had a better choice, I wouldn't let this happen."

"What choice?" Star stomped her foot on the mud "What could be worse than this!?"

"The war is too long." Marco watched as the bodies started to be dragged away "It's a sacrifice. I get the soldiers from this camp once it's abandoned, the war overall can be shorter, and overall less will die. Hopefully"

"Hopefully!? You don't do stuff like this for '_hopefully!'"_ Star threw the coat Marco gave her into the mud.

Marco turned to Star, he could feel tears start running down his face "Star, I need you more than ever to understand, I don't want to do this. I'm so, so... _sorry_"

"I don't know what to say."

Marco felt a lump in his throat "Please."

Star didn't just see Marco's feelings, she _felt _emotions radiate off him. She could tell he genuinely didn't want this. Everything from the tears to his voice, this was his soul put on a stage.

"I'll- I'll forgive you." She said.

"Thank you." Marco briefly gave a somber half-smile. "Let's get out of here."

They walked out of the camp. They passed the gates and got into the carriage. Once inside, Star stared out the window back at the camp. "Why did you come here in person?"

Marco hesitated, then said "I've been feeling less and less bad about this kind of stuff. I came here to see if I can jumpstart… ah nevermind."

"Alright, lets go." Star said. She kept her eyes on the camp as it faded into the horizon. The rain didn't let up.


	55. Wait, it's all contempt for the war?

Ch 52: Breakthrough

"Dang it." Marco looked at the redrawn map, particularly at the mountain range. Those mountains were supposed to be a wall, something that ensured safety from the enemy. But the map didn't lie, the enemy had broken through.

"Intel suggests more breakthroughs, but these are the only ones we know of for sure." Bugdwarf said "We pushed back a few others, but," Bugdwarf pointed to the enemy, now past the mountains "these slipped under our noses."

"We're spread out too thin." Jodl asserted "This is why we need to abandon more prisons-"

"I'm doing what I can!" Marco silenced him "How did they even get through the mountains!?"

"Pure grit, they suffered heavy losses while traversing them," Bugdwarf said.

Marco sighed "Alright, what're our options?"

"We have two strategies." Bugdwarf started to explain the two different plans that everyone agreed on. One was more risky but if executed properly the enemy would be pushed back behind the mountains. The other plan was almost guaranteed to be executed properly, but it was gonna let the enemy stay in front of the mountains.

In essence, one plan was high risk and high reward. The other, low risk low reward.

"So what will it be, sir?"

"Which one has less... death?"

"It's equal casualties." Crabs said.

"Hmm…" Marco thought about it. He would've gone with the non-risky option, but he had a gut feeling telling him otherwise. "Let's go with the risky one."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Marco said with confidence "We've been playing it too safe, we have to break out of our shells and take the risk."

"Alright." Bugdwarf said "Kettle, deliver this." He gave Kettle the letter with the plans in it. He ran off to deliver it.

Bugdwarf started again "So, sir, we have another…" He trailed off when he saw that Marco suddenly dropped his head down onto the desk.

"I can see that the military command is a well oiled machine." Jodl sarcastically said.

"Are you ok?" Bugdwarf said with concern.

"I need a private talk with Bugdwarf, everyone else leave." Marco said. They complied, Crabs and Jodl quietly walked out and Bugdwarf stayed. It was them, alone.

"What do you want to talk about, sir?"

"Bugdwarf," Marco began "You've been here for almost two years, you have the most experience in this war, and I feel like we're friends."

"Thanks, General Diaz."

"Call me Marco."

"I'd rather not."

"Fine." Marco said "But, I trust you the most. I trust that you can keep what I'm about to say a secret. Can you do that?"

"Yes, I can. I'm no spy, am I?" Bugdwarf assured.

"Alright," Marco said "Do you genuinely believe we can still win?"

"Of course we can still win!"

"Do you believe it's worth it?" Marco said grimly.

"...Excuse me?"

"How much death and destruction, and for what!?" Marco threw his hands in the air "For some oil? To repay some debt to Nazis? We GOT the oil, what're we fighting for now!? Answer me, Bugdwarf!"

"Sir, calm down-"

"How many wasted lives? How many dreams, all crushed and gone?" Marco stood up and started pacing "How many broken promises of coming home after the war? How many mothers and fathers will have to wipe the tears off their faces?"

"Did something happen, sir? I haven't seen you feel like this."

Marco leaned on his desk "I went to the prisoner camp, when it was being abandoned. The guards were gonna become part of the military after we took it down. But we had to do something about the prisoners. The easiest thing to do was execute them."

"I remember when you wrote up that order, why did you go there in person?"

"I went there because I was curious, that's all. Star went with me, and that was a godsend. When I saw each of the prisoners fall, I felt no remorse or empathy. But when I saw how Star reacted, it… it showed me how desensitized I got. It jump-started my humanity."

"So you don't want the war to continue?"

"Always have." Marco said "I made a mistake, taking up this job. When the war's over, I'm quitting."

Bugdwarf rose an eyebrow "Why can't you quit now?"

"The battalions are loyal to me after I saved the city when it was burning, it'll be a morale hit if I quit. Besides I won't just abandon Mewni."

**AN: TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, HAD TO UPLOAD TWICE.**


	56. Pew pew

Ch 53: Misunderstanding

In his office, Marco was leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the desk. He had just finished the day, and his assistants had just recently left. His desk was bare, except a small notebook left by Bugdwarf. He was waiting for Bugdwarf to come back and take his notebook. Although, he was half asleep in his relaxed position.

Then, without warning, the door opened. Marco jolted awake and sat up straight "Oh, hey Star!." Marco cheerily said.

"Hey." Star didn't have her usual smile. Or any smile at all, for that matter.

Marco instantly knocked off his cheery mood "Is something wrong?"

"Should we talk about the whole… you know…" Star gave Marco finger guns "Pew pew?"

Marco sighed "What's there more to say?"

"I dunno, but it just feels wrong to just pretend it didn't happen!" Star took a seat at the desk, facing Marco.

"Star, I hated it as much as you did. But I was sorry, and you accepted it. I don't know what else we can do to ease this… I guess you'd call it tension."

"Yeah, tension." Star said "Maybe we just need to have some fun, right?"

"What do you mean?" Marco asked.

"Well, maybe if we spend some time together and forget about the pew pew, we can break the tension."

"Why do you call it 'pew pew'?"

"I don't want to call it anything else, I don't want to be reminded." Star said "Hey, what's this?" Star took the notebook and looked at the blank cover.

"Give me that!" Marco swiped it out of her hands.

"What is it? Your diary or something?"

"The thing's not mine." Marco brushed the notebook off "It's Bugdwarf's"

"That guy's diary? I don't really know him, I thought he would be too old…"

"It's not a diary, Star. At least I don't think-"

"Gimme!" She reached for it, but Marco held it out of reach. "C'mon! Aren't you curious?"

"I don't go reading other people's diaries- I mean notebooks." Marco said "It's probably boring stuff like strategy or something anyway."  
"I won't tell!"

"No." Marco sternly said.

"Oh well, guess i'll have to… RAINBOW TRAP!" Star shot a beam of magic and trapped Marco in a rainbow colored cage. Marco dropped the notebook out of shock, it landed out of reach of him.

He grabbed the rainbow bars of his rainbow prison "Star! Let me out!"

"Let's see…" Star picked up the notebook and started to read "It's a diary! There's dates and page numbers, let's read this one, from 5 days ago!"

"Star, not cool!"

"Lighten up, will ya?" She started to read "'_Today my suspicions have come true, General Diaz trusts me enough to tell me personal information. This will aid me in gathering more information._' Boring!"

"Wait, it's actually a diary?"

Star flipped to the beginning "'_I have successfully implanted myself into the military high command, my superior is General Diaz, who controls the majority of the army._' Man, this guy writes weird."

"Wait, 'implanted?' let me see-"

Star flipped to a random page "'_General Diaz broke down today and ranted about General Wenck, maybe we can exploit his hate for him and-_"

"Star!" Marco got her attention "I wanna see!"

"Had a change of heart? Great!" She made the cage disappear. Marco took the book out of Star's hand and flipped to a random page. He started to read.

"'_The Mewmans have fought back the attack at the mountain pass, unfourtun_-'"

The door creaked as it opened, on the other side was Bugdwarf. "Hello General, I left my-" He saw the open notebook being read "Oh, uh…"

"Bugdwarf, i've read through this." Marco held the open side to him "Explain yourself."

"Well, it's for the history books!" Bugdwarf said.

"...what?"

"You see, when the history books write about this war, they'll want a source of what the high command was like. So, I took it upon myself to write the journal!"

"You mean diary?" Star said.

"I guess you could call it that."

"Oh, I thought you were- eh never mind." Marco gave the notebook back to Bugdwarf "Sorry for looking through it."

"It's alright, thanks." He quickly took the book and left as fast as he could. It was just Star and Marco again.

"Heh, guess it really was boring stuff." Star said

"Yep." They looked at each other for a moment or two in silence, then Star reached for the door.

"Wait, can- can you stay for a moment?"

"Oh, of course I can!" Star smiled.


	57. Throws pencil onto map

Ch 54: Downfall of hope

After the enemy broke through the mountains, the last defensive line was another river. After that, it was a straight shot to the city of Mewni. They advanced incredibly fast, despite the snow, and in 2 weeks they got to their destination. A city which had bridges across the river.

There's the city of Mewni, then there's the city of Purrton. Purrton was under the rule of Mewni, it was part of the same nation. It was smaller, less busy, and less important than the city of Mewni, but the culture was mostly the same. Situated on both sides of a river, it's vague unwalled borders stretch from the urban center, to the sprawling suburbs.

It was doomed.

Wenck's mechanized was sent to the city in anticipation of an attack. When they got the first glimpses of the city, they saw distant ruins. When they finally arrived within the city, they realized why. Fire, black plumes of smoke, the most tremendous cannonade they would ever hear. Artillery could be heard striking the urban center while the suburbs had already been mostly destroyed. Sprawling fields of rubble, unrecognizable from their former buildings, unending in any direction. The dense city was still intact, but it's streets were graced by constant shockwaves and the air was filled with ash and concrete dust.

Wenck and every one of his soldiers looked over the devastated skyline, tens of thousands dead, millions displaced and affected. Their orders from Diaz was to make camp and await the enemy to storm the city. But witnessing the city collapsing, people dropping to their knees at their homes, they couldn't just be a bystander and watch as they waited for the enemy.

The suburbs were relatively safe, they were already hit and were in no danger. But the dense center was being bombed, lives there were in jeopardy. But lives that could be lost, are lives that could be saved.

They drove into the fire, thunder, and explosions. Soldiers carried civilians in vehicles, _on_ vehicles. The crammed as many people they could onto their tanks and evacuated them. "_Evacuate Hell!_" They nicknamed their operation. Even in the snow, when the tanks got stuck, bystanders would push the tanks without being asked.

They did this as much as they could. Again and again, hell was evacuated. Again and again, lives were saved. And once the artillery stopped, the enemy was spotted. And once the enemy was spotted, Wenck did the unthinkable.

* * *

Back in Mewni Marco was having a cozy hot chocolate.

"Really weird how you guys have christmas here." Marco was sitting on a comfy wide couch. Star was sitting on a seperate one which could only hold one person, and the only light in that room was a crackling fireplace.

"It's not christmas." She took a sip from her steaming mug.

"Oh yeah, sorry. It's just that the holidays are so similar. Same date, same colors, really the only difference is that you guys worship a stump."

"And you worship a breaker and enter-er-er!" Star teased.

"I don't pray to Santa, he's just the guy who brings the presents."

"Well, 'Christmas' isn't here for another month, so let's just focus on our hot chocolate."

"Yeah, mine's getting cold!"

Star looked down on her drink "Aw, the little marshmellows dissolved."

"Bummer." Marco felt his lukewarm drink, then eyed Star's steaming hot mug "Wanna give me some of your hot chocolate?"

"I guess…" Star sat next to him and poured some of her marshmallow-less drink into Marco's cup, which warmed it up.

"Thanks!" Marco happily held the mug to his face and felt the wispy smoke-like steam hit his face. He opened his mouth to drink it, but stopped. He saw Star frowning.

"Tell you what, Star." Marco poured all of his hot chocolate into her mug "I'll get you more marshmallows"

Star immediately lit up "You can do that?!"

"Isn't illegal, isn't it?" Marco got up from his couch, then Star jumped up and hugged him.

"Thank you!" Star said as he hugged. Marco pushed her away lightly, seeing the widest smile on Star.

"I'll get the marshmallows now-"

The door busted open, startling both of them.

"Diaz! Something important just happened!" All four of Marco's assistants were there, walking in unannounced.

"Wha- It's my day off!" Marco complained.

Jodl whispered "War never has a day off-"

"Will ya shut up, Jodl?" Marco snapped "Bugdwarf, what happened?"

"It's about the enemy crossing at Purrton."

"What about it?"

His assistants stared in silence, then Jodl gave Bugdwarf a kick.

"Well, you see, uh…"

Crabs intervened "To the south, the enemy has taken the suburbs of Zossen and Stansdwarf." Crabs started to sweat "To the north, they're on the outskirts of the Frownow and Pants-co. And in the east they've taken Lick-burg, Mauldorf, and Carltown." He recited it from memory.

"I don't care about 'Pants-co.' Why're you telling me this? Besides, Wenck's forces will keep it under control. If Wenck's forces are there, we always win!"

His assistants glanced at each other. Then Kettle spoke up "My general, we've just been on the mirror with Wenck…" His voice broke "He…"

Jodl answered for him "Wenck has defected. He evacuated everyone he could from the city, then he surrendered to the enemy immediately."

"...what?"

"Intel says he's now fighting for the enemy." Bugdwarf said.

"Is… is this true?" Marco couldn't believe it.

"Marco? You ok?" Star asked.

"I have an extensive spy network, I even have some experience as a spy." Bugdwarf said with certainty "His last words to us were 'The war is lost.' then he hung up."

Marco slowly took Star's mug and downed it "Kettle, Jodl, Crabs, Bugdwarf, stay here. Star, leave." They obeyed, Star left and his assistants stayed.

A silence that felt like 1000 years ensued, then Marco shouted "That was an order! Wenck's defense was a direct order! Who does he think he is, to disobey a direct order?"

Star could hear his shouting through the wall.

"So this is what it has come to… We were doomed from the start, with a general like Wenck! Everybody has been grabbing at a hope for victory, when victory was never an option!" Marco started pacing "Our soldiers are weak, disloyal cowards!"

Kettle stepped forward "Sir, I can't let you insult the armed forces like that!"

"Cowards! Traitors! Failures! They are excuses for men!"

"Sir, this is ridiculous!"

"For years, Mewni has been fighting for nothing! For years, Mewni has been stepping one foot forwards, two steps back! What I should have done…" Marco took a breath "WAS KILL WENCK WHEN HE FAILED AT THE VERY FIRST RIVER CROSSING!" Marco shook his head making his hair messy.

"Sir, maybe you should take a seat?"

Marco sat down on the couch "Traitors… I have been deceived and spied on since the very beginning. But those spies will pay… they will pay with their blood! THEY WILL DROWN IN THEIR OWN BLOOD!"

"Calm down, sir."

"Sorry about that…" Marco took a few moments to regain control over his emotions "I have no allegiance, I wasn't even born in Mewni. But when the call to arms called me, I obeyed." Marco turned his face away from his assistants, almost embarrassed and ashamed.

"Sir?"

"Do what you like, the war is lost." Marco admitted "But if you think I will let the enemy rage across the countryside, slaughtering more people, then you are mistaken. I would rather kill my best friend, then kill myself."

For a minute, they stayed unsure of what to do.

Then Kettle left "Anyone wanna go to the bar?" Jodl and Crabs followed Kettle left.

Bugdwarf stood there for a minute, with them alone together yet again. Then he turned away. He had his hand on the knob before Marco stopped him.

"Bugdwarf, let me ask you a few questions." Marco didn't look at him "Who are you loyal to?"

Bugdwarf let go of the knob and to the right side of his waist "What are you saying?"

"Who do you serve, the Mewni people or the Mewni government?"

Bugdwarf relaxed and turned to Marco "That's a hard question-"

"Answer me."

"Fine… Both."

"Would you agree that the people have suffered enough in this war?"

"Yes, I would agree."

"Would you sacrifice your allegiance to the government to save the people?"

"...Yes." Bugdwarf said with confidence "Yes I would."

"Come here," Marco quietly said "I have a plan."

Bugdwarf came forward, and Marco whispered his plan into Bugdwarf's ear.

"Sounds good, i'm in." Bugdwarf accepted the plan.

"How long will you need?"

"A few days, but I can make it work."

"Then it's set." Marco said "All I hope for is that we don't have to kill anyone."

Bugdwarf left, followed by Marco. He saw Star sitting on the ground against the wall.

"Marco, why can't we just have some time together? You know, uninterrupted?"

"Star," Marco sat next to her, "Time is not really about sections of time, it's the little things."

"Really?"

"Heh, I have no idea." Marco took Star's hand to comfort her "But tell you what, there's a travelling amusement park coming to Mewni soon, I think. How 'bout we go there and have some fun?"

"Yeah," Star smiled "I'd like that."


	58. Next chapter is pure Starco

Ch 55: Setup

Marco looked at the harsh lighting of the room. The repurposed London courthouse was just settling down as people took their respective places. A crowd of journalists taking notes were near the back, while armed guards were sitting in rows. Marco was near the front, he was one of the few who were separated from the riff-raff.

There were . There was Marco and Bugdwarf. Then there was a representative from the 5 dimension alliance. Then there were the three who were making Marco uncomfortable.

"Sir, do you have a past history with these people?" Bugdwarf whispered.

"It's just weird you know? I always knew about these people from history class but to see them in person…" Marco discreetly pointed to the three people who were talking amongst themselves.

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain. Harry S. Truman, President of the USA. And Joseph Stalin, Premier of the USSR were gathered around each other and talking in a hushed tone.

"Just… bizarre."

Marco's eyes wandered until the event began. Someone dragged a table and chairs into the center of the room and the important sat on it. On one side, Marco accompanied with Bugdwarf. On the other was the big three of the allies and a multi-dimensional representative.

The multi-dimensional representative began "We have prepared a treaty beforehand." They put a binder on the table "We believe it is fair for all of us."

Marco opened the binder and found a few paper pages on the metal rings of it. Skimming through it, it seemed that Mewni would be splintered. Half of Mewni was given to Earth. Earth's half was evenly divided amongst the USA and the USSR. They weren't annexed, but put under their rule. Mewni would survive, atleast.

That was earth's half, though. The multi-dimensional half was fully annexed and split amongst the dimensions.

Marco flipped to the end and saw a list of signatures. Churchill, Stalin, and Truman were there but there were many more. Other allied leaders, Marco supposed.

"Have you leader, or the highest at the chain of command, sign it and the war will come to an end."

"We accept." Marco said

"I don't think you understand. In your case you need Queen Moon to-"

"The highest in command will sign it. 100 Percent." Marco stood up with the binder and motioned Bugdwarf to cut a portal. People stared at them, some with wide eyes and some with their mouth open. Some shaked their fists at them while some vigorously took notes.

"I had gone out and bought a new camera for today…"

* * *

Marco was sitting in his office again, hopefully it would be the last time the auburn walls would be graced with Marco working. Bugdwarf by his side, he fiddled with his pen and sipped his coffee.

With a knock on the door, Marco downed the rest of his mug and yelled "Come in!"

He came in quickly, his face showing no emotion and his bland uniform showing no wrinkles. He held out his hand "Charles Carpetto, I am part of Earth's '_Librecorps.'_" He said with a heavy french accent.

Marco took his hand and shook it "'_Liberecorps', _huh?" He looked down at his desk papers "Says here you were broken up in 1934, got targeted by the Nazi Secret police."

"The Gestapo killed the leaders of the _Friekorps_. After that, we split into different organizations. Exiled Germans continued the _Freikorps_, English created the '_Free Corps,' _so on and so forth. But that's not important." Carpetto leaned in, a few strands of his combed brown hair breaking away from the clean order "What is important is the money. The pay. L'argent."

"How much for ten fully armed men?"

"Untraceable currency, equivalent to 10,000 American Dollars."

"Good god." Marco turned to Bugdwarf "Do we have enough money for that?"

"Yes, but it would leave us bankrupt."

"Ok… I assume that 2 men are 2,000 dollars?"

"Oui."

"We have a deal, then." Marco nodded. Bugdwarf walked to a filing cabinet and opened a locked drawer with a key. He pulled out two bars of gold and handed them to Carpetto.

"Each one is 1,000 dollars." Marco assured. Carpetto held the bars in his hands, weighing them by tossing them in his hands.

After doing this for a while he said "Where and when will my men meet you?"

After specifying the time and place, Carpetto left. Marco buried his hands in his pockets on a whim, then felt something. He took out a coin.

"Heh, American quarter… must've been in my pockets for years!" Marco held it up to the light. "I'm keeping this. Just the distance it's traveled..." Marco rubbed it with his thumb and shoved it back in his pocket. And then he waited.

Eating his lunch on his work desk, he heard nothing but the munching of his own food. A knock at the door made Marco shove the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and brush away the crumbs on his desk. "Come in!"

The door opened with a creak as the royal guard opened it at a speed that would place him 3rd in the annual snail racing championship.

"Uh… is this the place Bugdwarf sent me?" His voice was barely audible.

"Come in, captain." Bugdwarf said.

"Oh, alright…" He awkwardly laughed "So, G- General Marco…" He sat himself down, but not before tripping over his own shoes. He obviously faked a smile. "So how's your day today-"

"We both know what we're here for. Bugdwarf told you beforehand." Marco asserted. "How much?"

"Oh, y-yes of course. As i'm the captain and thus the leader of the Royal guard, the family's bodyguards are under my command-"

"I know. How much?"

"I guess… like... 10 gold bars?"

"How about 8 gold bars."

"Oh, uh… that alright if you want… I guess…" The captain held out his shaky hand, and Marco shook it.

"The trigger word is 'Carnival.' Alright?"

"Ok. Yeah I- I can remember that… I think. Definitely."


	59. PURE STARCO

Ch 56: Peak of the wheel

Marco looked at his breath, visible from the cold. He pretended to smoke though he would never actually really do it. The carnival was up the road, it had colorful tents and stands. The most prominent feature it had was the ferris wheel towering above. How they built it up in a few days was a mystery to him.

When he saw Star, she was down the road and on a horse. Marco waved and she waved back. The horse was approaching him at an alarming speed though, and Marco dived out of the way just in time getting a face full of snow. The horse got one too.

"Sorry Marco!" Star got off the horse and helped Marco up.

"What the heck, Star?"

"I overslept, I got here as fast as I can!"

"It's 5! How could you have overslept that much?" Marco looked her up and down "What the heck are you wearing?"

"Whaddya mean? I wear this all the time!" Star twirled around, showing off her skirt and sleeveless top.

"Star, it's snowing."

"When has snow killed anyone?"

"It's killed-" Marco sighed, then laughed "Classic you. I got something." He revealed a bundle of poppies.

"OH!" Star took them and buried her face in them "These are great! Oh, by the way, I didn't comb my hair so I improvised with a porcupine. How do I look?"

"Wha- nevermind. Like you usually do."

"Cute?"

"Yeah, very cute. Now let's go." Marco smiled.

Entering the carnival side by side, they walked through. Stands were lined on both sides of the road with a red-striped tent the size of a building at the end of it. A dirt off-shoot led to the ferris wheel. Their eyes wandered, shooting from one stand to the next.

"Look!" Star grabbed Marco's arm and pointed to a coin-toss stand, stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling. "Look at that turtle! Lets go!" She ran to it, with Marco being dragged despite his best efforts to keep up.

When they arrived, Star reached for the stuffed turtle that resembled a loaf of bread, but her hand was slapped by the carnie "What're you doing!? You can't just take that! What're you, a thief?" The dark-skinned man said.

"Oh, this is a store? I didn't know, sorry!" Star said as Marco slapped his face "How much for that?" Star pointed to the turtle.

"You gotta win the coin toss, kid." He said "Toss a coin onto the plate right here," He slapped the top of a plate on top of a pedestal "And the turtle's yours. Or any stuffed animal here. Only one animal per coin, though."

"Alrighty! We mostly brung paper money but..." Star dug into her pockets and got all of her three coins "Here we go!"

"Wait, your skirt has pockets?"

Star tossed the coin to the plate. It hit the center and bounced off. "Aw, can i have that back?"

"Star, that's how you pay." Marco said.

"Huh?"

"You toss the coins and if you miss that's their money now."

"Oh, ok…" Star looked at her two other coins "You can do it, Star." She whispered to herself.

She tossed another one, and it hit the side of the plate and bounced off. She looked at the turtle's eyes, and imagined a voice. _Come on, You got this! _The turtle said.

"I got this…" She took a deep breath and tossed it. It bounced off the plate once again. "NO!"

"Sorry, kid."

Star had her shoulders down "No…" She said in an almost empty whisper.

Marco saw her, eyed his own pockets, and sighed "I got a coin." Marco took out his American quarter. He stepped forward and held the coin up to his face "All these years, you've been with me. It's time you went to some use." He focused on the plate, and tossed.

It hit the outer edge of the plate. It bounced into the center.

"YOU DID IT!" Star had an ear to ear smile.

"I'll take the turtle." Marco took the turtle from the carnie and presented it to Star.

She practically squealed "AHHHHH GIMME!" Star immediately took the turtle and hugged it. "THANK YOU!"

After that, they played some more games. They lost the rest, but Star had her loaf of a turtle in her arms as happy as can be. They played until the sun set. Then Marco noticed Star shivering.

"Star, are you ok?"

"It's nothing, just a bit cold."

"You'll catch a cold at this rate. Want my sweater?"  
"But then you'll be cold too!" Star looked at a small distant tent "Oh! They have food here! Probably hot. We can warm up!"

As they approached the tent, they smelled a faint aroma coming from the tent. When they opened the tent door, the thick air of deep fried food and wafts of sweet sugar hit them all at once. Though it was no warmer inside than it was out. They looked at the menu of curly fries, caramel apples, and the like.

Star looked at their money "We can't afford any of these… without having to give up on seeing the show at the big tent."

"We can't even afford two deep fried corn dogs!" Deep fried corn dogs were the cheapest thing on the menu. "We can only afford one unless we give up on the show _and _the ferris wheel!"

"Guess we aren't getting anything…" Star shivered.

"But you're gonna freeze! Come on, I don't care if we only get one. You really need it!"

"Marco, don't you want to see the main show?"

"I want you to live! Some show doesn't compare to… you. So just buy the corndog."

"...Alright, but because you said so."

Leaving the tent with a deep fried corndog, Star looked at the rest of their money.

"We have exact money to go on the ferris wheel." Star said.

"Then let's go!"

On their way to the wheel Star took 2 bites and tried to give some to the turtle by rubbing it against the mouth line.

The wheel was all metal. It's aluminum passenger cars had square aluminum boxes attached to the car itself as chairs, and a light for each of them from the roof. The turning wheel itself was pure rust, but by some miracle it was silent. It was slowly turning as they approached the woman operating it.

"It's this much, right?" Star held up their money.

"Right on the dot, kid." She took the money and said, "You can stay for as long as you like. Now get on."

"This metal is really cold." Marco could feel the almost frosted aluminum through his pants as he sat down.

"Whaddya mean? Feels fine to me!" Star felt the chair with her hands. They were on opposite sides. Each side had enough room to seat two people.

"'Feels fine?' Star, let me feel your hand."

"Alright." She held out her hand and Marco took it.

"Star, you're getting really cold. I'm surprised you aren't turning blue!"

"And your hand feels really warm." Star put her other hand on top of his "Feels nice, actually. Can I sit next to you?"

"Sure."

Star sat and pushed herself into his side, leaving the turtle on the other seat. Marco put his arm around her back and rubbed her ice-cold arm. He looked out of the car and saw the ground slowly move away. Star had her eyes half closed when her head hit Marco's shoulder.

He looked at Mewni's skyline. It's lights were like candles. Marco never really appreciated the size of Mewni, but now that he was at his height he couldn't help but feel a sense of insignificance. The vast array of stars above the city wasn't exactly helping either.

"Star, look."

She opened her eyes and looked at the skyline. It was like a quiet fireworks show. Pretty lights, yet silent. They basked in its beauty.

"Hey look, a shooting star!" Star pointed to a dash of light across the night sky.

"You're right here."

"Very funny. I wish for… me to not have to go to magic training. Did you know about my magic training tomorrow? You should come visit."

"I'll meet you before you go, unfortunately."

"Huh? 'Unfortunately?'"

"Doesn't matter." Marco said.

"Ok then. What's your wish?"

"My wish… I wish today would never end." Marco turned his head to Star, but paused when their faces were unexpectedly close. They listened to the quiet night for a moment, just staring.

Star grabbed his shoulder "Did you ever find out why we pull away whenever we… y'know."

"I have a theory." Marco whispered "Something about the blood moon. Every time we tried to do it, we were going against destiny. So the universe pried us apart."

"Marco, I'm pretty sure the Blood Moon's a bunch of baloney."

"...What?"

"Tom and I are supposed to be together for life. But I don't really feel anything for him. I think he's even losing interest in me. But you…" Star leaned closer.

"So it's placebo…" They saw their frosted breaths intersecting. "All… placebo."

Star jolted forward and locked her lips around Marco's. It caught him by surprise, but he closed his eyes and let instinct guide him. For too long, they had been separated. Like an old picture, they were reminded of every other time they kissed. Years apart, they had this one make up for lost time. Tongues curled together like vines. Star leaned in causing Marco to lean back. Marco held her with one arm. His other hand held Star's, their fingers intertwining. Her cold and his warmth created a temperature equilibrium.

They paused to catch their breath. Their forehead leaning on the other, their breaths were one.

Opening their eyes, they gazed into each other deeply. Their pupils dilated. And at the peak of the wheel, they spoke.

"I- I think- no. I _know_ I love you."

"I love you too. I- I love you so much."

They laughed. They both knew they loved each other, it was always on the back of their minds. As the years went on, it only grew. But now that they actually admitted it, it was like euphoria.

"Star, promise me you'll never forget that I love you."

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

Marco answered by holding the back of her and passionately wrapping his lips around hers.


	60. I LABELED IT TRADGEDY FOR A REASON

Ch 57: A Great Sacrifice

Queen Moon and her husband River were walking down the hall surrounded by the royal guard. The hall they were in was long, a door off to the side was all that it had before a turn at the end of it.

Then, at the end, Marco rounded the corner. His hands behind his back, like he was tied up, as three more people followed behind him. Bugdwarf had a rifle pointed to the back of Marco's head, while the two others had submachine guns pointed at the royal family and the guard.

"What're you doing!?" The captain of the guard said. The guards formed up as Moon and River backed away. Swords unsheathed, they protected the royal family.

"We have a request. For the Queen." Bugdwarf cooley said as they advanced forward. "Show em." He nodded to one of the submachine gun men.

The man used one hand to hold the gun, the other reached to his back and procured a clipboard. They advanced, and stopped. The man dropped the clipboard and kicked it over to Moon. At this distance, the Captain could see a French flag stitched onto the submachine gun wielders. He could also see that Marco had a holstered gun and a knife to his side.

"Moon." Marco said as Moon picked the clipboard up "Sign it. We don't want anyone hurt."

As Moon read it she came to a realization "This is a surrender treaty."

"Sign it." Bugdwarf said "Or else." He poked the back of Marco's head with the rifle barrel.

Moon looked at Marco, then the submachine guns, then to Bugdwarf "I-"

The door to the side busted open, revealing Jodl, Crabs, and Kettle. All brandishing rifles.

"We should've known." Jodl pointed his rifle at Bugdwarf "Bugdwarf, you're a spy!"

"How did you know!?" He pointed his rifle at Jodl.

"Wait… Bugdwarf?" Marco pulled a gun from his side and pointed it at him "You're a spy?!" He took a few steps back. Away from Bugdwarf, but still away from the guards.

"Yes. I'm a spy. And I'll be the greatest spy to ever grace the Allies!" He aimed at Marco again. "I'll be the spy who single handedly toppled Mewni from the inside! I'll be the spy who helped a general overthrow the throne! I'll be a legend!" He was almost crazed in his speech "For two years, I've been holding out. I'm not gonna trip and fail at the finish line!"

"Bugdwarf, I trusted you…" Marco's voice quivered "You were a friend… enough of a friend to let you help me in this coup!"

Kettle and Crabs readied their rifles at Marco "You're not tied up? You're part of this!?"

"Yes. I'm part of this." Marco aimed at them "The war has gone on long enough! The death of the throne will be worth the millions of lives that will be saved!"

"It's all falling apart!" Bugdwarf's eyes darted around the room "Carnival!" He said, completely missing the point of a trigger word.

The captain laughed "You think you can bribe the Royal guard?" He showed no sign of the stuttering nervous wreck from before "We prepared. We have bullet proof vests under our armour."

"It seems we have a standoff…" Marco felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face. He pointed his pistol at Bugdwarf, who aimed his rifle at Jodl, who pointed his guns back while Kettle and Crabs aimed at Marco. All the while the French mercenaries were ready to gun down the royal guards while the guards were ready to charge. They formed a diamond of sorts. One move could unleash a storm of death.

Marco could only hear his own breathing. Through his mouth, he was ready to shoot Bugdwarf through the head. Then he heard something else. A click coming from one of the mercenaries. Then something was tossed in the middle of their standoff.

"_Grenade!_"

The shockwave sent Marco flying backwards. He collapsed and sat against the wall. Ears ringing, he looked around in blurred vision.

Shots were going off, he could see the muzzle flash of Jodl's rifle as Bugdwarf crawled away. The mercenaries were raining lead upon the guards. The vests didn't protect against the grenade. The shockwave blew pieces off their armour and sent them into their wearers. Their protection was their demise.

Most of the guards were down on the ground or getting up. He spotted Moon and River starting to run. Shakily raising his pistol, he emptied his magazine. Both collapsed.

Suddenly regaining his sight and hearing, he heard the constant buzz of automatic shots coming from the mercenaries. When they ran out of ammunition, there was an eerie silence.

"You're bleeding." One of the mercenaries came to him and put pressure on a wound Marco didn't know he had. Now feeling the wound on his stomach, he gritted his teeth as the mercenary stopped the bleeding. Marco reloaded his pistol.

"You're gonna be fine, ok-" The mercenary was shot in the head, and blood splattered Marco. He heard another shot as he pushed the body off of him. Kettle was still alive. He raised his rifle, then realized he was out of bullets. Marco unloaded three shots into Kettle.

Marco looked around. It was a bloodbath, red painted the walls as bodies littered the floor. Bugdwarf was still crawling away leaving a trail of blood behind him. Marco unloaded the rest of his magazine into Bugdwarf.

He closed his eyes, resting from what he had just done. Adrenaline had numbed the wound, and now that it wore off the pain was even worse than before. He coughed up blood. It flowed down from his lip down to his chin. He didn't wipe it, he couldn't muster the energy.

He'd much rather sit there and rest. Any move could flare up the pain in his stomach. Actually, there were many pains on his body. On his sides, on his arms, on his legs. A stray spray of bullets must have hit him. His breathing was wet as he felt himself lose consciousness little by little.

He felt someone grab his shoulder "Marco! What happened here!?" Tom shook him trying to wake him up.

"Leave me alone… i'm tired…" Marco tried to brush him off.

"MARCO!" Tom slapped him awake "What happened!?"

Marco opened his eyes, suddenly awake, and grabbed him "Tom!" His voice was raspy "I'm shot up! You have healing magic, right?"

"I'll try to heal you." Tom put his hands over Marco's wounds. With a glitter or a spark of fire, most of them were healed. There were some still left on his legs and stomach.

"I couldn't get all of em-"

"I'll live." Marco tried to pull himself up, but fell back down halfway through. Tom helped him up. With an arm over Tom, he walked with a limp even with his support.

"Star can get the rest of those, I'll lead you to her." They walked over the dead bodies of the guards. When they passed Moon's body, Marco picked up the treaty.

He looked back as they walked away from the blood-slaked hall. "How is she?" Marco asked as he wiped blood from his lip.

"Don't worry about her."

He shot a dirty look at Tom.

"She's a bit sick, but she's happy that her 'magic test' or something got cancelled."

"So she's ok." Marco looked down at his body as they walked. His clothes were filled with holes, but most of them had no wounds. "Good."

After rounding a few corners and walking through a few empty halls, Tom said "We're almost there. She's in that room there." He pointed to a shut door at the end of the hall.

"Wait, Tom, stop." They stopped at a window. Marco leaned against the wall and started coughing.

"You alright? Dude-"

He pulled his gun out. "One moment and you're dead. Don't try magic."

"What the heck, Marco?"

One hand on the gun, one hand on the treaty, he said "Out the window, don't look back."

"Alright…" Tom backed away and bumped into the window. "Just don't shoot." He slowly opened the window, crawled out, and closed the window.

Marco, still leaning on the wall, made his way to the door. Leaning on the door he holstered his gun and went in.

Star sat up in her bed, sheets over her legs. "Hey Marco!" The bed was centered at the far wall, her wand on the bedside table "Are.. are you alright?"

He stumbled to the bed and sat next to Star. He took her wand and handed it to her "Can… can you heal me?"

Star wiped the blood of the wand's handle raised it "SUPERHOSPITALBANDAID!" With a beam of light, Marco's wounds instantly closed and healed.

"Thanks, Star." His voice was still weak and exhausted.

"What happened?" Star looked at the blood soaked clipboard as she put the

"It's not really important." Marco handed her the clipboard "Could you sign this?"

"Why is it covered in blood?"

"...Please?"

Star sighed, got up, and opened the drawer of the bedside table. She got a pen out and read the treaty. "I'm pretty sure I need mom to sign this. I'll go get her." She got to the door then turned back "D'you know where she is?"

"Um… no."

"Oh well. See y-"

The door opened, revealing Tom with a group of soldiers behind him "Star! Get behind us! Marco's snapped or something!"

"Huh? What's happening?" She backed away from them.

Marco stood up and got his pistol out "Star, sign it right now!"

Tom stepped forward "Star, don't listen to him, get behind these soldiers-"

Star turned back to Marco "Marco, you wouldn't hurt me, right?"

"Are you insane!?"

"Tom, I got this." Star whispered "I'm sure we can talk this out."

Marco had sweat on his palms "Star, sign it. Please. Just do it." He walked towards her.

She slowly approached him "Marco, we can talk this out. I can get my mom and-"

"Your mom is dead, Star." Tom said "Marco killed her, your dad too."

"...Excuse me?"

"Star, listen to me. You are the highest law of the land now. Sign that, and we-"

"So it's true?" Star was within arm's reach of Marco, they met halfway. "They're…

they're gone? But they can't..." She shakily grabbed her wand. She was bursting at the seams.

"I don't want to hurt you, Star. Let go of the-"

"KNOCKBACKAIR!" A swoosh of air sent Marco flying back, hitting his head on

the bedside table.

Marco quickly aimed at her and he hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to do

it. She was fast approaching, though. She had dropped her wand and grabbed a nearby lamp. She wasn't bothering with magic anymore. Star was consumed by rage.

Marco lined up the perfect shot. One bullet to the head. His finger quivered, then he pulled the trigger.

_Click. _It was empty.

The lamp shattered on his head, making him drop the gun and fall to the ground. Star got on top of him, her legs holding him down. She grabbed the gun by the barrel and raised it to hit Marco.

With her arms up her chest was exposed. By instinct, Marco got his knife and stabbed it into Star's chest. It pierced the heart. She fell to the side.

"Oh god, Star!" Marco sat up and removed the blade "What have I done, What have I done, What have I done…"

"Marco…" Star weakly said.

"Why did you do it, Star? Why!?"

"You… killed my parents…"

Marco decided to lie to her, to give her some comfort "Star, they're fine. They're alive. Your dad said he's gonna take you monster hunting. You like monster hunting, right?"

"Yeah… I like that…"

"You're gonna be ok, Star. You're gonna live, alright?" He put pressure on the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "You can heal yourself using magic, right?" He had tears in his eyes as he desperately tried to save her.

"This is too much for magic…"

"Star… Star… Stay with me!"

"I feel dumb now… Mom and dad are alive… wouldn't have attacked you if you just told me that…" Star's speech got quieter and quieter.

"Star, please." Marco held her up in his arms. "Please stay with me!"

"Not much I can do about that…"

"Do you… do you remember last night?" Tears were streaming down Marco's face "Remember what I asked you to never forget?"  
"You love me…"

"I love you, Star. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"I love you too…"

"I know, Star. I know."

"I want to relive that night."

"Wha- What do you mean?"

She grabbed his collar and aggressively kissed him. Tongue and all, Marco was shocked but then embraced it. He could taste a hint of blood, but he didn't care. Their warm caress of lips was the best Marco had ever gotten in his life. A crescendo of bittersweet feelings filled them.

Then, Marco felt Star's tongue stop moving.

"Star, come on…" He shook her "You're just playing a prank right? Right!?" He cried into her clothes "You got me! You can put off the act!"

He shook her and shook her, but nothing was gonna get her awake.

"Why… why…" He picked her up and put her on the bed "Why didn't you just sign it…" He picked up the clipboard and the pen. He then signed it himself.

"Marco, why?" Tom said "Why do all this?"

Marco looked at the treaty "We went down the chain of command. Moon, River, Star. None of them signed it, so the next person was me."

"Give me one reason why we shouldn't kill you!" Tom stomped his foot.

Marco tossed the treaty to him.

"Get to a mirror and contact Earth. Show them that, and end the war. I didn't do all this for nothing. The Butterflies didn't die for nothing."

"I don't think i'm qualified."

"Then get someone who is. That's all I ask." Marco then looked at Star. It was like she was sleeping, when she was on the bed. Like she could wake up at any moment. But nothing could get her up. He looked at the knife in his hand. It glistened with blood and he held it close to his face.

Marco stabbed himself in the neck. Falling onto the bed, he wrapped his arms around Star.

Tom looked at both of them. Both on the bed, both dead in each other's arms. He looked at the clipboard, the signed treaty. Marco's last wish was to get the signed treaty to the Allies. "Should I…?" Tom said to himself.


	61. I'M DONE WITH THIS

Epilogue: Blooming Poppies

Outside the walls of the city of Mewni, there was a bare hill with no vegetation on it. A grave sat atop it, freshly made with a simple tombstone. Marco got up and looked around. He had a view of the city, and behind him was a view of a battlefield. Craters of mud, charred black in color instead of brown. A convoy of vehicles were making their way through, a tank leading the way. Headed towards the city of Mewni.

He saw a horse trot from the back to the leading tank. The tank driver stopped, got out, and talked to the horse rider. The tank never advanced after that. They left with a U turn and they disappeared into the horizon. Then he sat and watched.

He watched as the mud dried up, the sun set over the craters, and he watched the moon shine upon the landscape. A day passed.

And then another. And another. Grass crept in, day by day. A road was beaten from the city and through the battlefield. People started flattening it out, and construction started. By 6 months, a framework for a farm was built. By one year, it was done. A modest house, a barn, and a field of wheat. Sometimes people would visit his grave, but it was people he never knew.

5 years. More and more farms were built. Golden wheat stretching far into the horizon, below the blue sky. Moss always grew on his stone grave, constantly. The only person to ever visit him was a 20-something government worker who cleaned his grave. Yearly, he would come with a water bucket, a sponge, and a metal scraper. He never acknowledged Marco, never even looked at him.

10 years. The government worker got older, but he always came and cleaned the grave. Marco thought he was nice, even though he was probably just doing his job.

20 years. The farmhouse had a family, and a child would come and sometimes put flowers on Marco's grave. Her mom asked why he did this, and the child said "Well nobody else does!"

25 years. At 15 years old, the kid ran into the government worker. The kid asked about who Marco Diaz was.

"Diaz was a guy, in love with one of the princesses. But there was also the war going on 25 years ago. You know how the war ended?"

"I'm learning about this in school. The queen was coup'd?"

"Entire family was killed, this guy did it to end the war."

"Oh… sorta sad…"

40 years. The government worker stopped coming. At least the hill was covered in grass.

60 years. The kid had grown into an old man. He came to Marco's grave with his grandchildren. He told Marco's story to them.

120 years. An entire generation passed away, and Marco still watched.

140 years. A class trip came to Marco's grave every school year. Everytime, a child would ask their teacher "How come Diaz's grave is out here, and Star's grave is in the city?" And each time, Marco tried to talk. To scream and shout, but they never responded.

200 years. The farms were replaced by suburbs. Marco expected his hill to be flattened, but they never touched it. A fence was put up around it.

300 years. People would come to the grave and tell Marco's story. Sometimes they got things wrong. Marco tried to correct them, but of course they never bat an eye at him.

325 years. It's become tradition for the grandparents of each generation to tell Marco's story to the children every year or so.

400 years. A child, 3 years old, came up to the hill to hang out. They made eye contact with Marco.

"Hey! What's your name?"

"You can see me?" Marco said.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I see you?"

"I'm a ghost, i'm pretty sure."

"Oh cool." The child was completely convinced "Hey, stop standing there!"

"What? Why?"

"You're standing on general Diaz's grave!"

"But I _am _general Diaz."

"Oh, that makes sense! So why're you a ghost?"

"What do you mean 'why am I a ghost?'"

"Y'know, unfinished business!"

"I really don't know why I'm a ghost."

"Oh well, see ya around!" The child left. When they came back, Marco couldn't talk to them.

410 years. The child grew up and at 13 years, them and their class came and learned about Marco's grave.

"That's sad. Why couldn't they bury Diaz and Star together at the time?" the child said

425 years. The child grew up into an adult. Marco saw them in a car driving towards the city in the dead of night. They stopped and looked at Marco. They gave him a nod and continued towards the city.

At the crack of dawn, the car came back. With something tied to the top, a stone box.

It took them an entire hour to get the box to the top of the hill. Then they started digging. One person, one shovel, and 6 feet.

"Heya Marco!"

"Wha- Star!? How?"

"Got stolen out of the city and got driven out here. So how're you doin'?"

"It's been 425 years, how could you be so chill!?" Marco looked Star up and down "And you haven't aged a day!"

"Makes sense, since we can't age when we're dead."

"So nonchalant…" Marco laughed "You're Star, alright. It's been lonely out here!"

"I got a present for you!" Star held up a flower.

"Is that a poppy?" Marco took it "Do you remember what I told you 400 years ago?"

"Of course! Oh, remember when you killed me?"

Marco said, "I'd rather not-"

Star grabbed Marco by the collar.

"Let me guess, you wanna relive that?" Marco whispered.

"Well, we really can't relive since we're dead-"

Marco put his arms around her, above her shoulders, and kissed.

It took 400 years, but they were together. It transcended generations, centuries, eons. Marco, and Star, could finally rest.

**AN: Bruh, next time I make a long fic I'm making it all the way through before I post it. I have some grievances with this. Mainly:**

**-The swearing.**

**-The adoption stuff.**

**-Industrial Revolution stuff**

**-The second family. (The Blossoms/the people who are named after spices)**

**-Potential breaches in canon.**

**-some other stuff**

**But hey, you win some you lose some. I'm proud of it. Over 1 year of dedication, and over 67,000 words (If you add Star vs. The Allied Forces) Pretty sure that's enough for a YA novel. Not like I'm going to publish this. I've learned from others that if you try and publish something at my age you're gonna cringe later.**

**Leave a review if you like it or not. You can mention the stuff I listed in this AN.**

**Starco4everr I hope I didn't hurt you too bad. Thanks for telling me whether or not my chapters were good or not.**

**FetusFluid69, out.**


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